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So much for being a safe and lucrative place for all the best minds of the world.
by cjohnson318 1y ago
So much for being a safe and lucrative place for all the best minds of the world.
- oldpersonintx2 1y ago[dead]
- numa7numa7 1y agoI could be wrong but I thought O-1 was the genius visa and H1B was the skilled labor visa.
- visa-vasanth 1y ago>> I thought O-1 was the genius visa Yes, you have to be a genius to go through a 1yr online remote masters program which is mostly group work and essentially a fee for undercutting others on the queue: https://www.smu.edu/online/masters/data-science https://www.smu.edu/online/masters/data-science https://pe.gatech.edu/georgia-tech-online https://pe.gatech.edu/georgia-tech-online or
- swarnie 1y agoDoesn't the 100k fee ensure only the best (most worthwhile in a capitalist system) come and you don't end up with mass used to undercut local wages?
- nojito 1y agoThe median salary of someone on H1B is higher than someone not on H1B. If H1B is gone we will see a decrease in wages not an increase.
- Our_Benefactors 1y agoBold claim cotton
- nojito 1y agoThe data is publicly available. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor/performance https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor/performance
- Our_Benefactors 1y agoThis proves the first part of your claim, not the second (which is wild speculation and no data exists)
- nojito 1y agoThe US has successfully brain-drained the rest of the world over the last 20 years. https://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/The-Impact-of-H-1B-Visa-Holders-on-the-U.S.-Workforce.NFAP-Policy-Brief.May-2020.pdf https://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/The-Impact-of-H-...
- Our_Benefactors 1y agoNon sequiter. What you said was “If H1B is gone we will see a decrease in wages not an increase.” Then you said other random stuff that didn’t prove that statement in any way.
- sarchertech 1y ago>The median salary of someone on H1B is higher than someone not on H1B. Not within the same job in the same location they aren't. If you're on an H-1B and you get fired or laid off, you have 60 days to find a new job or be deported. That creates an underclass of workers who are willing to put up with much worse working conditions and work longer hours. That drives down working conditions and wages for everyone.
- nojito 1y ago>Not within the same job in the same location they aren't. The actual data doesn't support this belief. 100% offer market wages and 78% offer higher than market wages.
- sarchertech 1y ago1. I'd need to see the exact data you're citing. 2. It's a common tactic to employ people on H-1Bs in a lower paying job title while having the perform the work of a higher paying title. 3. You'd need to adjust for average number of hours worked.
- nojito 1y agoNone of what you said is true. https://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/The-Impact-of-H-1B-Visa-Holders-on-the-U.S.-Workforce.NFAP-Policy-Brief.May-2020.pdf https://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/The-Impact-of-H-...
- explorer01 1y agoAnecdotally, I have seen the h1b under leveling happen multiple times. But not sure it’s common enough to skew the data but it does stand out when it happens because you have a great engineer with 10 years experience and you find out they are an SDE1. For every one of those there are probably 10 that are correctly leveled or over leveled.
- sarchertech 1y ago
- mindslight 1y agoNo, because after the spectacle of human cruelty from the initial implementation has faded, large companies will cozy up to the regime ($$bribes$$) and the per-employee government fees will be waved. Furthermore as we've seen with "return to office", companies are more concerned with having control than with the bottom line. This new dynamic gives them one more thing to hold over H1Bs heads. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the number of H1Bs increases.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- rs186 1y agoNah, the employer will happily get rid of the US headcount and rehire the same guy in their home country or UK/Canada etc while paying a third of the salary. Zero employer is going to pay $100k.
- JKCalhoun 1y agoYeah, I suspect more jobs are going overseas now.
- XenophileJKO 1y agoCertainly some will, but if we have learned anything from the 1990-Now, it is that remote R&D doesn't always save money or even work effectively at all.
- rs186 1y agoThe world in 1990 is no longer the world now. As someone who works with colleagues from India (like, physically in India), I don't see any reason the company keeps me over some other random guy in India, to be honest.
- SoftTalker 1y agoA big change from then to now for remote collaboration is better connectivity in general, and technology such as Zoom and Teams. But how do you handle the time zone difference? That has always been the issue I've seen with any kind of real-time collaboration with contracrors or employees in India. If it's work that doesn't involve that, then what is the big difference now? Github? Slack?
- rs186 1y agoIf companies like airbnb allow you to work from anywhere in the world, it means timezone is not a problem. It definitely needs some investment though. > what is the big difference now? What is the difference between pre-2020 full-time in-office, vs 3 day or even fully remote? Nothing, in my opinion (CEOs don't agree though). If people are productive with 3 days in office, that could have been the norm before 2020. All you need is someone actually making it happen.
- visa-vasanth 1y agoNot really. The H1b and O visas were never used for "genius" talent, they are typically used by the WITCH companies to pay people bottom-rate wages (40k-60k for HCOL city) so companies can underpay market wages. If you have to pay 100k, you might as well hire an American worker. The "shortages" will mysteriously disappear.
- IncreasePosts 1y agoExactly. It might not make economic sense to pay the fee for $40k wages. But maybe it does for $500 k/yr Google/meta employee
- brainwad 1y agoWhen I got my first LCA 14 years ago, the min salary my employer had to pay was 77k (and I actually got 90k). How on earth do Indian outsourcing companies get 401ks for employees earning only 40-60k?
- rayiner 1y ago70% of H1Bs are from India: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/20/h-1b-visa-fee-timeline-imposed-by-us-concerning-says-india-trade-body https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/20/h-1b-visa-fee-timel.... That’s five times more than China. Are we really to believe that the supermajority of “the best minds of the world” come from a single country? Or is the marketing of H1B quite different from the product Americans are actually receiving.
- jonathanstrange 1y agoIndia has the largest population on Earth and Indians have more incentives to leave their country than Chinese.
- rayiner 1y agoIndia has 130 million college graduates, and 70% of H1bs. Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia together have over 50 million graduates, but only around 2% of H1bs combined.
- jonathanstrange 1y agoSo the US is more popular among Indians than among Mexicans, Brazilians, and Colombians. What is the point? And why these countries when I've already said the same about Indians vs. Chinese?
- rayiner 1y agoThe point is that it strongly suggests the system is being abused by India. Even excluding developed countries where people might lack incentive to move, India doesn’t come close to having 70% of “the talent.” Latin America alone probably has as many college graduates as India, accounting for higher college attendance rates. But Latin America accounts for a small share of H1bs while India accounts for 70%.
- 13415 1y ago
- djohnston 1y agoIf you think H1B brings “the best minds of the world” I have a bridge to sell you.
- jzzjznnzk 1y agoThat argument only works if society distributes wealth more equitably. Current setup simply brings in foreign labor so that capitalists can reduce wages and they pocket the profit, while Americans pocket the costs. Not to mention migrating for purely economic reasons is obviously not going to make the locals like you very much.