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A better perspective is that the median H1B holder created $100k+ worth of value for some US company. Salaries are lower than the value you create, or else your

A better perspective is that the median H1B holder created $100k+ worth of value for some US company. Salaries are lower than the value you create, or else your employer would stop paying you. There could be some rare edge case where you are undercut by a direct competitor, but overall America is much richer with H1Bs that without them.

toomuchtodo 1y ago
Value for who? Certainly not the majority of Americans. Depressed wages increase profits, which go to shareholders. Most Americans do not benefit from the H-1B grift. I’ll even argue it hurts US citizens by importing immigrants who aren’t necessary from a labor supply perspective (for those on the visa who are not exceptional talent), who compete for housing with citizens when there is a shortage of millions of housing units. A few select tech and financial services companies, and their shareholders, benefit the most from the program. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/04/what-we-know-about-the-us-h-1b-visa-program/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/04/what-we-k... https://www.pewresearch.org/?attachment_id=201754 https://www.pewresearch.org/?attachment_id=201754
- charliea0 1y ago
  I hire a programmer to code my app, SuperConnect++. I charge $0.99 to download the app. People buy the app if it's worth more than $0.99 to them. If 150,000 people buy the app, then I have ~$150,000 of revenue. I can pay a programmer $100,000 a year and have $50,000 left over. 150,000 people benefited from the app. Now say I have to pay an additional $100,000 visa fee for my programmer. My cost of $200,000 is less than my revenue of $150,000. I don't build the app. I don't get $50,000. 150,000 people who would have bought the app don't benefit from it. The biggest loss is to the Americans who don't get to buy the app. There are other possibilities, maybe I increase the price to $1.99 or I hire an American. We can see that those are both bad. The former extracts $150,000 extra dollars from American consumers. Since unemployment is low for Americans and an American programmer can't have two jobs at once, the later just means that some other project that the American programmer would have worked on is not completed.
  - toomuchtodo 1y ago
    Unemployment for tech workers is not currently low, and it is taking months, or even years to find a new role, therefore this argument doesn’t hold water. Wages > consumer excess and profits. The world will go on if you don’t build the app, and perhaps someone else will. The evidence is clear this visa is abused at scale, and this action has been overdue. https://www.epi.org/blog/tech-and-outsourcing-companies-continue-to-exploit-the-h-1b-visa-program-at-a-time-of-mass-layoffs-the-top-30-h-1b-employers-hired-34000-new-h-1b-workers-in-2022-and-laid-off-at-least-85000-workers/ https://www.epi.org/blog/tech-and-outsourcing-companies-cont... https://www.epi.org/publication/new-evidence-widespread-wage-theft-in-the-h-1b-program/ https://www.epi.org/publication/new-evidence-widespread-wage...
    - charliea0 1y ago
      The unemployment rate in the information-technology job market is 4.5%?
      - toomuchtodo 1y ago
        Over 650k tech layoffs have occurred in the last 4 years. Companies have tried as hard as they can to offshore and use visa labor to avoid hiring US citizen workers. This doesn’t account for new job creation needed for workers entering the workforce. Corporations are also hiding jobs from US citizens (citations which you can find in my other recent comments). https://layoffs.fyi/ https://layoffs.fyi/ Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45306539 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45306539 - September 2025 Ask HN: Recent unemployed CS grad what do I do? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43211153 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43211153 - March 2025 https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/state-of-the-tech-market-in-2025 https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/state-of-the-tech... https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/04/it_job_market_july/ https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/04/it_job_market_july/ https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/job-market-report-college-student-graduates-ai-trump-tariffs-rcna221693 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/job-market-report-c... https://www.axios.com/2025/07/06/unemployment-job-market-education-health-care https://www.axios.com/2025/07/06/unemployment-job-market-edu... https://old.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1kcc40j/what_happened_to_the_job_market/ https://old.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1kcc40j/what_happ... https://apnews.com/article/college-graduates-job-market-unemployment-c5e881d0a5c069de08085a47fa58f90f https://apnews.com/article/college-graduates-job-market-unem...
- liquid_thyme 1y ago
  > who compete for housing with citizens when there is a shortage of millions of housing units. Are they underpaid, or are they swimming in cash to buy up all the expensive housing? Make up your mind.
  - toomuchtodo 1y ago
    It can be both. Median price of a home is $400k. Homebuyers need household income of ~$117k to afford typical home in U.S. Their income from ther visa enables their buying power to compete against citizens. About 300k H-1B visa holders own homes in the US per FWD.US. Other comments in this thread speak to the wage suppression and lower wages. https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/home-affordability-in-current-housing-market-study/ https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/home-affordability-in-c...
    - liquid_thyme 1y ago
      There is shortage of everything now. Maybe immigrants needing gas is raising gas prices too. (OK, i know you didn't say that, but its a joke :P) We could go back and forth posting links that contradict each other, or recognize that scapegoating immigrants isn't productive. https://www.uschamber.com/economy/the-state-of-housing-in-america https://www.uschamber.com/economy/the-state-of-housing-in-am... "The shortage of housing can be attributed to a range of regulatory and policy failures. These include burdensome permitting processes, outdated zoning regulations that dictate everything from lot sizes to parking requirements, complex legal frameworks, price controls, and restrictive financial regulations."

toomuchtodo 1y ago

Value for who? Certainly not the majority of Americans. Depressed wages increase profits, which go to shareholders. Most Americans do not benefit from the H-1B grift. I’ll even argue it hurts US citizens by importing immigrants who aren’t necessary from a labor supply perspective (for those on the visa who are not exceptional talent), who compete for housing with citizens when there is a shortage of millions of housing units. A few select tech and financial services companies, and their shareholders, benefit the most from the program. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/04/what-we-know-about-the-us-h-1b-visa-program/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/04/what-we-k... https://www.pewresearch.org/?attachment_id=201754 https://www.pewresearch.org/?attachment_id=201754

charliea0 1y ago
I hire a programmer to code my app, SuperConnect++. I charge $0.99 to download the app. People buy the app if it's worth more than $0.99 to them. If 150,000 people buy the app, then I have ~$150,000 of revenue. I can pay a programmer $100,000 a year and have $50,000 left over. 150,000 people benefited from the app. Now say I have to pay an additional $100,000 visa fee for my programmer. My cost of $200,000 is less than my revenue of $150,000. I don't build the app. I don't get $50,000. 150,000 people who would have bought the app don't benefit from it. The biggest loss is to the Americans who don't get to buy the app. There are other possibilities, maybe I increase the price to $1.99 or I hire an American. We can see that those are both bad. The former extracts $150,000 extra dollars from American consumers. Since unemployment is low for Americans and an American programmer can't have two jobs at once, the later just means that some other project that the American programmer would have worked on is not completed.
- toomuchtodo 1y ago
  Unemployment for tech workers is not currently low, and it is taking months, or even years to find a new role, therefore this argument doesn’t hold water. Wages > consumer excess and profits. The world will go on if you don’t build the app, and perhaps someone else will. The evidence is clear this visa is abused at scale, and this action has been overdue. https://www.epi.org/blog/tech-and-outsourcing-companies-continue-to-exploit-the-h-1b-visa-program-at-a-time-of-mass-layoffs-the-top-30-h-1b-employers-hired-34000-new-h-1b-workers-in-2022-and-laid-off-at-least-85000-workers/ https://www.epi.org/blog/tech-and-outsourcing-companies-cont... https://www.epi.org/publication/new-evidence-widespread-wage-theft-in-the-h-1b-program/ https://www.epi.org/publication/new-evidence-widespread-wage...
  - charliea0 1y ago
    The unemployment rate in the information-technology job market is 4.5%?
    - toomuchtodo 1y ago
      Over 650k tech layoffs have occurred in the last 4 years. Companies have tried as hard as they can to offshore and use visa labor to avoid hiring US citizen workers. This doesn’t account for new job creation needed for workers entering the workforce. Corporations are also hiding jobs from US citizens (citations which you can find in my other recent comments). https://layoffs.fyi/ https://layoffs.fyi/ Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45306539 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45306539 - September 2025 Ask HN: Recent unemployed CS grad what do I do? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43211153 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43211153 - March 2025 https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/state-of-the-tech-market-in-2025 https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/state-of-the-tech... https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/04/it_job_market_july/ https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/04/it_job_market_july/ https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/job-market-report-college-student-graduates-ai-trump-tariffs-rcna221693 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/job-market-report-c... https://www.axios.com/2025/07/06/unemployment-job-market-education-health-care https://www.axios.com/2025/07/06/unemployment-job-market-edu... https://old.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1kcc40j/what_happened_to_the_job_market/ https://old.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1kcc40j/what_happ... https://apnews.com/article/college-graduates-job-market-unemployment-c5e881d0a5c069de08085a47fa58f90f https://apnews.com/article/college-graduates-job-market-unem...
liquid_thyme 1y ago
> who compete for housing with citizens when there is a shortage of millions of housing units. Are they underpaid, or are they swimming in cash to buy up all the expensive housing? Make up your mind.
- toomuchtodo 1y ago
  It can be both. Median price of a home is $400k. Homebuyers need household income of ~$117k to afford typical home in U.S. Their income from ther visa enables their buying power to compete against citizens. About 300k H-1B visa holders own homes in the US per FWD.US. Other comments in this thread speak to the wage suppression and lower wages. https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/home-affordability-in-current-housing-market-study/ https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/home-affordability-in-c...
  - liquid_thyme 1y ago
    There is shortage of everything now. Maybe immigrants needing gas is raising gas prices too. (OK, i know you didn't say that, but its a joke :P) We could go back and forth posting links that contradict each other, or recognize that scapegoating immigrants isn't productive. https://www.uschamber.com/economy/the-state-of-housing-in-america https://www.uschamber.com/economy/the-state-of-housing-in-am... "The shortage of housing can be attributed to a range of regulatory and policy failures. These include burdensome permitting processes, outdated zoning regulations that dictate everything from lot sizes to parking requirements, complex legal frameworks, price controls, and restrictive financial regulations."