4 ms·

Basically all of the problems with the H1-B system could be fixed overnight by simply banning visa holders from working for consulting companies. 'No visa holde

Basically all of the problems with the H1-B system could be fixed overnight by simply banning visa holders from working for consulting companies. 'No visa holder may be employed by a company whose main business is consulting for other firms, or staffing'. We'd keep the highly skilled folks who are going to the FAANGs, and at least letting the midmarket companies bid for everyone else. But there's no compelling national or economic interest in importing a class of Accenture/Cognizant/Wipro/Infosys workers who work on 6 month contracts at Wells Fargo or whatever. I'd actually support more skilled immigration if we could get rid of the consulting firms Edit to clarify slightly: if your concern is 'skilled immigration', I would like to gently but firmly state that most of the developers that work for the consulting firms are just not very good. Sorry. If you're in a hiring capacity at a tech company at all, everyone knows that the Wipro guys who work on 6 month contracts doing Java at Fortune 100 companies cannot pass even the simplest tech screen. Yes it makes me sound like a jerk to say this, but they're not 'highly skilled'

bradlys 1y ago
The culture that is brought over is definitely very prevalent in faang.
snozolli 1y ago
I would also suggest not tying the visa to a particular employer. The current system makes H1Bs easier to exploit.
- hash872 1y ago
  They're not tied to a particular employer, this is a myth that will seemingly never die. H1-Bs are transferrable between employers. I know multiple people in both my professional & personal life who have done so easily https://immigrationhelpla.com/h1b-visa-transfer/ https://immigrationhelpla.com/h1b-visa-transfer/
  - persolb 1y ago
    Having H1-B visa employees introduce overhead. Not all companies are willing to do it. We’ve recently decided to stop H1-Bs for anyone that isn’t a senior hire.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
- OptionOfT 1y ago
  I think you're mixing in H-1B with L-1A/B. They're tied to a single employer.
- more_corn 1y ago
  Seriously. It’s slavery. I’ve seen people stay at staggeringly toxic environments because their visa was tied to a narcissist.
- shagie 1y ago
  https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-1b-specialty-occupations/faqs-for-individuals-in-h-1b-nonimmigrant-status https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary... > An eligible H-1B worker can change employers as soon as the new employer’s nonfrivolous H-1B petition is properly filed with USCIS.
  - airstrike 1y ago
    That's harder to do than the sentence says. And not all employers are H-1B employers. H-1B workers should be able to sponsor themselves, they shouldn't need to do the whole paperwork through businesses. So long as they can prove they meet the requirements, they should be able to apply for the visa (or its renewal). The current system works like if every tourist had to first ask Disney to apply for their visa before coming to Orlando.
master_crab 1y ago
I agree on the principle but that condition would be specific enough to invite abuse. Using pay as the article is mentioning would force a natural market clearing mechanism into the system (if you really want that person you may not get them if another company is willing to pay more for the H1B slot).
- hash872 1y ago
  But most H1-Bs are brand new grads, so their salary is just not very high. You'd be kicking out every 22 year old graduate of Stanford, Harvard etc. if you enforced a pay scale. The US has had a public policy since the 60s of making it easy for foreign grads of our elite colleges to stay here, I wouldn't mess with that
  - master_crab 1y ago
    That’s F1 visas. You get a couple years on the F1 in private industry before you have to convert. Also, H1B began in the 90s.
    - hash872 1y ago
      I just don't think that salaries are high enough for engineers that have been working for 2 years, that we can employ a market-based model for just the highest paid ones. I guess to be fair you could lengthen the OPT visa period to like 5 years, but that just seems cruel to all of the OPT folks who don't make it
      - master_crab 1y ago
        Yeah OPT is way too short after college (I think 2-3 years max). And it does make sense to expand it to 5 years and offer a time based path to a green card (which many other countries do employ). But there is the risk people might game the system to take advantage of that framework (though that sounds like a higher hurdle than the H1B charade now). There isn’t an easy answer but for sure what exists now isn’t working.
    - 1y ago
daft_pink 1y ago
I think they shouldn’t be indentured servants and they should just charge a huge fee, discount it for US grads and then don’t allow someone here to easily switch so they can’t maintian a pay disparity.

bradlys 1y ago

The culture that is brought over is definitely very prevalent in faang.

snozolli 1y ago

I would also suggest not tying the visa to a particular employer. The current system makes H1Bs easier to exploit.

hash872 1y ago
They're not tied to a particular employer, this is a myth that will seemingly never die. H1-Bs are transferrable between employers. I know multiple people in both my professional & personal life who have done so easily https://immigrationhelpla.com/h1b-visa-transfer/ https://immigrationhelpla.com/h1b-visa-transfer/
- persolb 1y ago
  Having H1-B visa employees introduce overhead. Not all companies are willing to do it. We’ve recently decided to stop H1-Bs for anyone that isn’t a senior hire.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
OptionOfT 1y ago
I think you're mixing in H-1B with L-1A/B. They're tied to a single employer.
more_corn 1y ago
Seriously. It’s slavery. I’ve seen people stay at staggeringly toxic environments because their visa was tied to a narcissist.
shagie 1y ago
https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-1b-specialty-occupations/faqs-for-individuals-in-h-1b-nonimmigrant-status https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary... > An eligible H-1B worker can change employers as soon as the new employer’s nonfrivolous H-1B petition is properly filed with USCIS.
- airstrike 1y ago
  That's harder to do than the sentence says. And not all employers are H-1B employers. H-1B workers should be able to sponsor themselves, they shouldn't need to do the whole paperwork through businesses. So long as they can prove they meet the requirements, they should be able to apply for the visa (or its renewal). The current system works like if every tourist had to first ask Disney to apply for their visa before coming to Orlando.

master_crab 1y ago

I agree on the principle but that condition would be specific enough to invite abuse. Using pay as the article is mentioning would force a natural market clearing mechanism into the system (if you really want that person you may not get them if another company is willing to pay more for the H1B slot).

hash872 1y ago
But most H1-Bs are brand new grads, so their salary is just not very high. You'd be kicking out every 22 year old graduate of Stanford, Harvard etc. if you enforced a pay scale. The US has had a public policy since the 60s of making it easy for foreign grads of our elite colleges to stay here, I wouldn't mess with that
- master_crab 1y ago
  That’s F1 visas. You get a couple years on the F1 in private industry before you have to convert. Also, H1B began in the 90s.
  - hash872 1y ago
    I just don't think that salaries are high enough for engineers that have been working for 2 years, that we can employ a market-based model for just the highest paid ones. I guess to be fair you could lengthen the OPT visa period to like 5 years, but that just seems cruel to all of the OPT folks who don't make it
    - master_crab 1y ago
      Yeah OPT is way too short after college (I think 2-3 years max). And it does make sense to expand it to 5 years and offer a time based path to a green card (which many other countries do employ). But there is the risk people might game the system to take advantage of that framework (though that sounds like a higher hurdle than the H1B charade now). There isn’t an easy answer but for sure what exists now isn’t working.
  - 1y ago

daft_pink 1y ago

I think they shouldn’t be indentured servants and they should just charge a huge fee, discount it for US grads and then don’t allow someone here to easily switch so they can’t maintian a pay disparity.