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$25K annual fee per H1B worker as opposed to $100K one-time would have made more sense. It would have made even more sense to have employers compete (within the

$25K annual fee per H1B worker as opposed to $100K one-time would have made more sense. It would have made even more sense to have employers compete (within their own sector, such as tech, aerospace, etc.) such that whoever offers the highest salary will get the H1B worker.

gowld 1y ago
Why within a sector? make everyone compete, and we'll find if any local workers want the high paying jobs. The H1B count can be increased to cover jobs that locals don't want even at high salaries.
- breadwinner 1y ago
  Why would locals not want high paying jobs? The question is whether qualified people can be found locally or not.
  - ToucanLoucan 1y ago
    It's a severely under-reported aspect of this issue that a troubling amount of times, the issue isn't that Americans want too much money or just don't want to work, the issue is there are no Americans qualified to do the work you need to do who are looking for a job. The Hyundai factory exposed this. The VISA'd employees (or non-VISA'd? I don't remember the details offhand) were only there in the first place overseeing the project because they literally could not find anyone qualified to do the fucking job in Georgia.
    - mrguyorama 1y ago
      If there literally are no Americans (instead of just, no Americans at the price point you are willing to pay), then $100k is a small price to pay to enable your business. Last I checked, Software Developers did not have a 0% unemployment statistic, so clearly there are American software developers that could be employed in those jobs, but FAANG still hires an H1B. Gee, I wonder why. Maybe it's because H1Bs are cheaper than an American. Maybe it's because H1Bs cannot say no without risking being deported. This claim that "No no no, every H1B was fine and totally could not even possibly be replaced by American labor" flies in the face of the actual reality of the tech industry. Microsoft can't find an American to write code? Bullshit, they just fired tons of them. The fact that it is less abused in other industries should not be used to paper over the games the tech industry play. FAANG have been found multiple times to be collaborating to suppress tech industry wages. This is just another way they do that. >could not find anyone qualified to do the fucking job in Georgia. There was not a single American anywhere in the entire united states that could do things to build a car factory? Really? They couldn't fly someone out from Texas, or Michigan? Am I supposed to believe we don't have any human beings in the entire united states that know how to build part of a factory?
      - dotnet00 1y ago
        >If there literally are no Americans (instead of just, no Americans at the price point you are willing to pay), then $100k is a small price to pay to enable your business. They also have the option of just not building the factory. Somehow you guys expect to increase manufacturing, while also increasing costs and acting like money grows on trees for businesses, and if you just got rid of the dirty brown and yellow people, you'd be getting paid $500k to work on an assembly line.
- azemetre 1y ago
  Because there are some H1B workers that come over as translators or other non-tech professions. Like if you need a translator that speaks Swahili for some NGO it's way easier to hire a native Swahili speaker than possibly finding a qualified American that also speaks Swahili. I do find it interesting that these trillion dollar companies can't find domestic workers, at their level of wealth they should simply be forced to pay for the education of Americans to create a funnel of workers rather than exporting this societal need to other nations.
  - kelipso 1y ago
    There are a bunch of H1Bs working as teachers in my medium sized midwestern city, making around $50k. Then there are a bunch in the healthcare sectors making from $50k to $500k. I actually feel like they are legitimate reasons they are there, very difficult to get good healthcare workers in the midwest since no one good wants to go there.
    - vitaflo 1y ago
      Mayo and Cleveland Clinic are literally in the Midwest what are you talking about?
      - kelipso 1y ago
        There are lots of places that are hours to days drive away from those two. Midwest is a big place, so what are you talking about? I guess you could say the talent is concentrated in a few places, but lots of places in the midwest with terrible hospitals.
        vitaflo 1y ago
        This is no different than anywhere else in the US. It’s says nothing about the Midwest.
        kelipso 1y ago
TMWNN 1y ago
>$25K annual fee per H1B worker as opposed to $100K one-time It's $100K per employee per year.
- kelnos 1y ago
  I think it's actually per visa. I know the linked article says per year, but other sources I'm glancing at seem to indicate it's an application/renewal fee. Actually, it's not even clear that you have to pay again to renew after 3 years; it might just be the initial fee.
  - caughtinthought 1y ago
    Based on the language in the executive order: "the entry into the United States of aliens as nonimmigrants to perform services in a specialty occupation under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b), is restricted, except for those aliens whose petitions are accompanied or supplemented by a payment of $100,000" It sounds like it applies every time you leave and enter, provided you are a nonimmigrant alien on H1B (which they all are).
    - breadwinner 1y ago
      No, it is every time you petition. So every time you apply for the visa.
kelnos 1y ago
This isn't about what makes sense. This is about finding a punchy number that sounds big and makes Trump's base happy. "$100k fee (that covers 3/6 years)" sounds more impressive than "$33k per year" or "$17k per year", so that's what they went with. Ultimately this isn't going to do anything to reform the H-1B program; this is just trump "doing something", which he'll claim as a success (and his base will eat up), even if it does nothing or makes things worse.
- newfriend 1y ago
  It's 100k per person per year. And I am ecstatic.
  - breadwinner 1y ago
    It is not, and don't be. If you were not previously qualified you won't suddenly be. The job will simply migrate overseas.
    - newfriend 1y ago
      I don't have to be qualified for every job for this to have an effect on wages. A surplus of labor has allowed companies to be extremely selective during the interview process, while putting downward pressure on wages. Moving jobs offshore is already cheaper and has been for decades. There's a reason it's seen as a dead end / ktlo. This change is a big win for all American tech workers.
      - breadwinner 1y ago
        It is not a win unless you are talking about IT jobs. For silicon valley type jobs, silicon valley is silicon valley because it is where top tech people congregate. If it loses that status then talent and venture capitalists will find another place to congregate, for example Vancouver BC. It won't happen overnight, but even a slow migration is bad news. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2024/09/16/the-microsoft-facility-in-vancouver-that-congress-built/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2024/09/16/the-micros...

gowld 1y ago

Why within a sector? make everyone compete, and we'll find if any local workers want the high paying jobs. The H1B count can be increased to cover jobs that locals don't want even at high salaries.

breadwinner 1y ago
Why would locals not want high paying jobs? The question is whether qualified people can be found locally or not.
- ToucanLoucan 1y ago
  It's a severely under-reported aspect of this issue that a troubling amount of times, the issue isn't that Americans want too much money or just don't want to work, the issue is there are no Americans qualified to do the work you need to do who are looking for a job. The Hyundai factory exposed this. The VISA'd employees (or non-VISA'd? I don't remember the details offhand) were only there in the first place overseeing the project because they literally could not find anyone qualified to do the fucking job in Georgia.
  - mrguyorama 1y ago
    If there literally are no Americans (instead of just, no Americans at the price point you are willing to pay), then $100k is a small price to pay to enable your business. Last I checked, Software Developers did not have a 0% unemployment statistic, so clearly there are American software developers that could be employed in those jobs, but FAANG still hires an H1B. Gee, I wonder why. Maybe it's because H1Bs are cheaper than an American. Maybe it's because H1Bs cannot say no without risking being deported. This claim that "No no no, every H1B was fine and totally could not even possibly be replaced by American labor" flies in the face of the actual reality of the tech industry. Microsoft can't find an American to write code? Bullshit, they just fired tons of them. The fact that it is less abused in other industries should not be used to paper over the games the tech industry play. FAANG have been found multiple times to be collaborating to suppress tech industry wages. This is just another way they do that. >could not find anyone qualified to do the fucking job in Georgia. There was not a single American anywhere in the entire united states that could do things to build a car factory? Really? They couldn't fly someone out from Texas, or Michigan? Am I supposed to believe we don't have any human beings in the entire united states that know how to build part of a factory?
    - dotnet00 1y ago
      >If there literally are no Americans (instead of just, no Americans at the price point you are willing to pay), then $100k is a small price to pay to enable your business. They also have the option of just not building the factory. Somehow you guys expect to increase manufacturing, while also increasing costs and acting like money grows on trees for businesses, and if you just got rid of the dirty brown and yellow people, you'd be getting paid $500k to work on an assembly line.
azemetre 1y ago
Because there are some H1B workers that come over as translators or other non-tech professions. Like if you need a translator that speaks Swahili for some NGO it's way easier to hire a native Swahili speaker than possibly finding a qualified American that also speaks Swahili. I do find it interesting that these trillion dollar companies can't find domestic workers, at their level of wealth they should simply be forced to pay for the education of Americans to create a funnel of workers rather than exporting this societal need to other nations.
- kelipso 1y ago
  There are a bunch of H1Bs working as teachers in my medium sized midwestern city, making around $50k. Then there are a bunch in the healthcare sectors making from $50k to $500k. I actually feel like they are legitimate reasons they are there, very difficult to get good healthcare workers in the midwest since no one good wants to go there.
  - vitaflo 1y ago
    Mayo and Cleveland Clinic are literally in the Midwest what are you talking about?
    - kelipso 1y ago
      There are lots of places that are hours to days drive away from those two. Midwest is a big place, so what are you talking about? I guess you could say the talent is concentrated in a few places, but lots of places in the midwest with terrible hospitals.
      - vitaflo 1y ago
        This is no different than anywhere else in the US. It’s says nothing about the Midwest.
        kelipso 1y ago

TMWNN 1y ago

>$25K annual fee per H1B worker as opposed to $100K one-time It's $100K per employee per year.

kelnos 1y ago
I think it's actually per visa. I know the linked article says per year, but other sources I'm glancing at seem to indicate it's an application/renewal fee. Actually, it's not even clear that you have to pay again to renew after 3 years; it might just be the initial fee.
- caughtinthought 1y ago
  Based on the language in the executive order: "the entry into the United States of aliens as nonimmigrants to perform services in a specialty occupation under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b), is restricted, except for those aliens whose petitions are accompanied or supplemented by a payment of $100,000" It sounds like it applies every time you leave and enter, provided you are a nonimmigrant alien on H1B (which they all are).
  - breadwinner 1y ago
    No, it is every time you petition. So every time you apply for the visa.

kelnos 1y ago

This isn't about what makes sense. This is about finding a punchy number that sounds big and makes Trump's base happy. "$100k fee (that covers 3/6 years)" sounds more impressive than "$33k per year" or "$17k per year", so that's what they went with. Ultimately this isn't going to do anything to reform the H-1B program; this is just trump "doing something", which he'll claim as a success (and his base will eat up), even if it does nothing or makes things worse.

newfriend 1y ago
It's 100k per person per year. And I am ecstatic.
- breadwinner 1y ago
  It is not, and don't be. If you were not previously qualified you won't suddenly be. The job will simply migrate overseas.
  - newfriend 1y ago
    I don't have to be qualified for every job for this to have an effect on wages. A surplus of labor has allowed companies to be extremely selective during the interview process, while putting downward pressure on wages. Moving jobs offshore is already cheaper and has been for decades. There's a reason it's seen as a dead end / ktlo. This change is a big win for all American tech workers.
    - breadwinner 1y ago
      It is not a win unless you are talking about IT jobs. For silicon valley type jobs, silicon valley is silicon valley because it is where top tech people congregate. If it loses that status then talent and venture capitalists will find another place to congregate, for example Vancouver BC. It won't happen overnight, but even a slow migration is bad news. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2024/09/16/the-microsoft-facility-in-vancouver-that-congress-built/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2024/09/16/the-micros...