4 ms·

This is a good change which prevents body shops from privatizing the financial surplus of the visa. Right now body shops can flood the lottery and underpay thei

This is a good change which prevents body shops from privatizing the financial surplus of the visa. Right now body shops can flood the lottery and underpay their employees relative to direct hire h1b.

leereeves 6y ago
I agree. The H-1B lottery favors exploiting foreign workers for relatively low paying tech jobs with poor working conditions. I hope this article is wrong about Biden reversing this.
- Barrin92 6y ago
  There's no evidence that this is true. H-1B workers are generally paid above market wages compared to workers of similar skill level[1]. This argument is often brought up when people compare median wages, but they seem to forget that half of the American workforce isn't paid the median wage. [1]https://www.cato.org/blog/100-h-1b-employers-offer-average-market-wages-78-offer-more https://www.cato.org/blog/100-h-1b-employers-offer-average-m...
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - true_religion 6y ago
    H1-B visas were intended to be used to exceptional workers in cases where there was genuine immediate need for them. Currently they are just being used for matters of convenience. That’s people true gripe with them.
- niq999 6y ago
  For the record, I make $300/month as a hired software engineer here in Russia. I would prefer slightly better conditions, than no such opportunity at all.
  - cpursley 6y ago
    Nonsense. You can make this working as a cashier at Magnit (grocery chain). Average salary for non-skilled labor outside of Moscow is $500 per month. Probably higher when you consider the gray/black market (tax avoidance is huge here). A competent software developer in Russia working remotely for western countries is making at least $20 per hour, and in many cases much more. Even a developer working for local companies is going to make several grand per month.
    - vbezhenar 6y ago
      Here's some random ad in Krasnodar: https://krasnodar.hh.ru/vacancy/40992302 https://krasnodar.hh.ru/vacancy/40992302 for web developer. 10 000 - 30 000 RUB which is $134 - $400. And that's not even Junior position, as it's required to have 1-3 years of experience to apply and plenty of checkboxes to tick. I agree that good developer can find much better wages, especially if he's not hesitating to move to Moscow/SPb. But not every developer is good and not everyone is fine with relocating. English translation of this ad: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=https://krasnodar.hh.ru/vacancy/40992302 https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=https:/...
      - cpursley 6y ago
        Crazy, thanks for the info - that's not far from where I am (Anapa). There's many devs living here working for western or Moscow companies.
  - 0xy 6y ago
    Is this common in Russia? It seems low even for a junior and even in Russia. When I look on Upwork and Freelancer, decent mid and senior level developers in Russia/Ukraine etc seem to charge $30/hour on the low end. Can't you freelance for more money if that's true?
    - Muromec 6y ago
      It's probably just Russia. Software developer salaries in Ukraine[0] are usually in 2k-5k per month range with virtually no tax overhead. Median for the city of Kyiv was 2800 USD per month in 2020. You probably can get as low as 300 working in public sector, but I'm not sure about that now. [0] https://dou.ua/lenta/articles/salary-report-devs-june-2020/ https://dou.ua/lenta/articles/salary-report-devs-june-2020/

leereeves 6y ago

I agree. The H-1B lottery favors exploiting foreign workers for relatively low paying tech jobs with poor working conditions. I hope this article is wrong about Biden reversing this.

Barrin92 6y ago
There's no evidence that this is true. H-1B workers are generally paid above market wages compared to workers of similar skill level[1]. This argument is often brought up when people compare median wages, but they seem to forget that half of the American workforce isn't paid the median wage. [1]https://www.cato.org/blog/100-h-1b-employers-offer-average-market-wages-78-offer-more https://www.cato.org/blog/100-h-1b-employers-offer-average-m...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- true_religion 6y ago
  H1-B visas were intended to be used to exceptional workers in cases where there was genuine immediate need for them. Currently they are just being used for matters of convenience. That’s people true gripe with them.
niq999 6y ago
For the record, I make $300/month as a hired software engineer here in Russia. I would prefer slightly better conditions, than no such opportunity at all.
- cpursley 6y ago
  Nonsense. You can make this working as a cashier at Magnit (grocery chain). Average salary for non-skilled labor outside of Moscow is $500 per month. Probably higher when you consider the gray/black market (tax avoidance is huge here). A competent software developer in Russia working remotely for western countries is making at least $20 per hour, and in many cases much more. Even a developer working for local companies is going to make several grand per month.
  - vbezhenar 6y ago
    Here's some random ad in Krasnodar: https://krasnodar.hh.ru/vacancy/40992302 https://krasnodar.hh.ru/vacancy/40992302 for web developer. 10 000 - 30 000 RUB which is $134 - $400. And that's not even Junior position, as it's required to have 1-3 years of experience to apply and plenty of checkboxes to tick. I agree that good developer can find much better wages, especially if he's not hesitating to move to Moscow/SPb. But not every developer is good and not everyone is fine with relocating. English translation of this ad: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=https://krasnodar.hh.ru/vacancy/40992302 https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=https:/...
    - cpursley 6y ago
      Crazy, thanks for the info - that's not far from where I am (Anapa). There's many devs living here working for western or Moscow companies.
- 0xy 6y ago
  Is this common in Russia? It seems low even for a junior and even in Russia. When I look on Upwork and Freelancer, decent mid and senior level developers in Russia/Ukraine etc seem to charge $30/hour on the low end. Can't you freelance for more money if that's true?
  - Muromec 6y ago
    It's probably just Russia. Software developer salaries in Ukraine[0] are usually in 2k-5k per month range with virtually no tax overhead. Median for the city of Kyiv was 2800 USD per month in 2020. You probably can get as low as 300 working in public sector, but I'm not sure about that now. [0] https://dou.ua/lenta/articles/salary-report-devs-june-2020/ https://dou.ua/lenta/articles/salary-report-devs-june-2020/