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Have worked with quite a few H1-Bs with absolutely no special skills. Large off-shoring firms soak up quite a few of them for people coming out of degree mills.
by JustLurking2022 3y ago
Have worked with quite a few H1-Bs with absolutely no special skills. Large off-shoring firms soak up quite a few of them for people coming out of degree mills.
The only advantage to businesses is that these people are modern indentured servants, due to their immigration status being dependent on their employer. I'm all for getting rid of that but I also think there should likely be a smaller number with a salary based bidding system (e.g. if you aren't paying in the 80th percentile or above for a person in the industry of that age, you're not getting H1-Bs, and yes age not years of experience since the latter is easily fudged). Otherwise, it simply continues to be a way for companies to suppress wages.
- MSFT_Edging 3y agoThen theoretically, these changes for H1-Bs should both protect them from the indentured servitude, and by removing that leverage, remove the motivation for H1-B abuse. If companies can't bring someone over that they can overwork and underpay at threat of deportation, they'll rethink the MBA-brained "optimizations" and be forced to create a more resilient workforce rather than a loose collection of people to rugpull every time the rate of profit increase dips by .0004%.
- shiftpgdn 3y agoThese days H1B is strictly a wage suppression tool and filled with low skill workers from India based degree mills and body shops. Actual skilled workers are coming in on L-1 or O-1 visas.
- the_svd_doctor 3y agoIf you’re already in the US and eventually want a GC (typical Us graduate), both of those are not very good option and H1-B is better bc of its dual intent.
- grimgoldgo 3y agoThat is patently false. Plenty of skilled engineers come from around the world on H1B visas.
- phone8675309 3y agoThe parent post doesn't dispute that - it's just adding that in addition to the plenty of skilled engineers part there are also a bunch of low skill workers from degree mills coming as well.
- ThrowawayR2 3y agoEven if that was true, that would be absolutely fine. Getting one Jensen Huang, Satya Nadella, Lisa Su, Sundar Pichal, etc. would make absorbing 10,000 or even more low/mediocre skilled workers along with them worthwhile. The technological and economic benefits makes it a no brainer.
- shiftpgdn 3y agoJensen Huang emigrated at the age of 4, Lisa Su at the age of 3, Satya and Sundar both came over as part of college visa programs. I don't see what that has to do with mass importation of low skill workers to hammer down high middle class wages in the US?
- renewiltord 3y agoCan you describe what happens after one graduates after coming here on a "college visa program"?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- muzaffarpur 3y agoThere are hundreds of thousands folks, who came here for college, are still on h1b. They have been in this limbo for 10+ years.
- gourabmi 3y agoThey might have moved here as part of college visa programs but they needed H1B to work and build their skill set. The college visa (F1/ J1) does not come with a work authorization beyond 3 years.
- NovemberWhiskey 3y agoThe H-1B situation is also a problem for people who come from overseas to study for their degrees in the U.S. They get F-1 OPT, and join US companies that then cannot retain them because of the over-subscription of the H-1B. It's also bogus to say that H-1B is more problematic than L-1B for body-shopping: all the well organized body-shops do massive amount of intra-company transfers.
- bubbleRefuge 3y agoAgree. The fix is to allow them to be "free agents" like every other participant in the economy. Allow markets to determine their value.
- JustLurking2022 3y agoIn theory yes but if the premise for why we allow disproportionately large immigration from certain countries is that we're bringing in unique skills, and we decide that premise is flawed, then it would also be cause to reevaluate the immigration policy.
- slt2021 3y agothis is demonstrably false, if you ever bothered to look at the actual LCA filings from DOL. btw these indian body shops are already abusing O-1 and L-1 visas en masse as well, so your latter statement is also not 100% true
- JustLurking2022 3y agoFixing one loophole is not mutually exclusive with fixing the rest...
- slt2021 3y agoI am for fixing loopholes, instead of getting rid of the entirety of H-1B program as some people advocate here.
- madeofpalk 3y agoIf the visa does not require sponsorship from a company (like the current H1-B does), does that help reduce the 'indentured servants' part and lessen the appeal of it for certain types of companies?
- elzbardico 3y agoIt is always a matter of perspective. As a tech worker, the average H1-B worker you know is probably close to the average of the other tech workers you know like you. But you have to compare their skills and education to the global average of society to understand the benefit they bring.
- nottorp 3y agoYou need no salary rules. Just need to allow them to change jobs at will. Salaries will sort themselves out.
- rhaway84773 3y agoHow small do you think the number should be?