6 ms·
Would have loved to live in the US but dread the idea of H1B. I find it paradoxical that living in the most free country in the world required living in servitu
by gumballindie 3y ago
Would have loved to live in the US but dread the idea of H1B. I find it paradoxical that living in the most free country in the world required living in servitude for a good number of years. So the investor route is the only option it seems, one which i am still considering once capital becomes available.
- WendyTheWillow 3y agoServitude implies no payment and little freedom, whereas with an H1B you have often high payment and complete freedom in all ways besides your actual employer. However, your employer is still bound by all of the employment laws of the nation and state, so real abuse is quite difficult to pull off.
- KittenInABox 3y agoI don't think this is accurate. In the US, the onus of abuse reporting is on the employee. You can abuse your employee knowing that if they report you, you'll know they reported you, and can carefully torpedo their career knowing the employee has a very high bar to legally prove retaliation in court.
- WendyTheWillow 3y agoCan? Yes. Do? Not really, not often. Abuse is possible! It’s just not common, not in the sense of “servitude” being slavery or some other kind of abominable condition. Maybe you get the shit work, maybe you work more hours, but let’s not pretend these are the salt mines.
- wing-_-nuts 3y agoWords have meaning. When we use 'indentured servitude' in the modern context it means that it is not easy for a h1b worker to change employers as easily as someone with residency or citizenship. This is irrefutably true. When people cannot easily change jobs they deal with worse working conditions and worse pay. I have seen people work for the same employer for over a decade because they would have to restart their greencard process otherwise.
- WendyTheWillow 3y agoWords do have meaning, and that’s not what “indentured servant” means, at all.
- wing-_-nuts 3y agoWhat an oddly pedantic hill to die on...
- WendyTheWillow 3y agoI'm not dying, and this is your hill, not mine. Words have meanings, yes? Then use those meanings.
- BurningFrog 3y agoI came to the US on H1B, and while there are some restrictions, and US bureaucracy is dumber than most, calling it "living in servitude" is absurd.
- gumballindie 3y agoServitude is subjective. For me knowing I can't fire an employer or client at will, having to rely on them for years, knowing that if they do fire me i have max one month to find a new job or lose my house and uproot my family, is servitude. I want the sweet freedom America promises from day one. However, I do respect people that put up with it and I am not belittling anyone.
- BurningFrog 3y agoAtt least in my day, that one month deadline was not enforced. As long as you didn't leave the country, nobody cared. Don't take my word for it, check with your immigration lawyer.
- nateglims 3y agoThere are plenty of Americans who view working for a wage like this. Sometimes due to the precarity of their situation (e.g. deindustrialization reduced the number of jobs in manufacturing and some engineering fields) but often it's part of the freedom that was glamorized by the founding myth of the country. The country was founded by businessmen, plantation owners, and independent farmers. Now we venerate small business owners, people living off rents and assets, etc. Many of them view working for a wage with revulsion.
- gumballindie 3y ago> Now we venerate small business owners, people living off rents and assets, etc. That would be great if it were the case. But it seems like a good portion venerates corporations and wage slavery. > Many of them view working for a wage with revulsion. Couldn't agree more with working for a wage being repulsive. I think the US needs to get back closer to the founding myth you mentioned, and farther from the cancer of corporations turning everyone into wage slaves. There really is no freedom in that. My stomach turns inside out thinking that I was in favour of that. What a terrible mistake. Nothing against those forced to work as such often limited by the precarity of their situation.
- BeetleB 3y agoUnless you're from India/China, the wait times are not long to get a green card - plenty of people get it within 2 years. The real challenge is getting the labor certification stating that there is a shortage in skills you offer. And you can always change jobs (albeit at the risk of restarting the green card process).