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I feel pretty strongly about this one, and pretty confident in my assessment that more immigration of talented people is good for America. So instead of just co

I feel pretty strongly about this one, and pretty confident in my assessment that more immigration of talented people is good for America. So instead of just commenting here, I took the time to write the author, hoping that I could start a dialogue and maybe understand where he's coming from and show him the other side of the story. Here's what I wrote: -- Hi Bill, I read your article about H1-B visas on Info World. I came from Hacker News, a great community where we share and talk about the newest articles in technology. I wanted to share a perspective I've got with you on visas, because maybe I have a bit of a unique one. My first studies before changing majors was in economics, and later I've done work in many countries around the world. In the last few years, I've worked or spent significant time in the United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Spain, Holland, Sweden, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, and Dubai among other places. I'm an American myself, and I've got many American and international friends in lots of industries. With a bit of background in economics and international business, I've come to think that having as many smart, hard-working people in the United States as possible is good for the country. I'll give you an example: A friend of mine in New York just got her green card. She's got two degrees, speaks fluent Japanese and near-native English, and works in medical devices. She'd been on an H-1B visa before getting her green card. The USA is clearly better for her being here: She's done great work in the medical community in New York, and - this is another great part - she's actually created wealth and jobs in New York City. She saves a bit of her paycheck - the rest she spends on the things people spend on: Rent and groceries, movies and clothing, the salon and handbags, occasionally a class, public transit and taxis, and everything a standard American gal would spend on. Her work in medical devices has saved lives, people who can go on and be productive, and those people's insurance companies have paid her company for the technology. This means the company can hire more people into R&D, engineering, and support. The people who owe their lives to her can continue working and making money, and spending that money - thus creating new jobs. I think the biggest potential issue with the H1-B program is that employees are bound to a particular company once hired, but it looks like at least the major companies pay their foreign employees on par with American workers. That means they're not hiring to keep wages down, but instead to get the best people. Great people in technology are able to find jobs quickly - there's a demand for them. But there's also genius-level people with amazing work ethics outside of the States that would love to come here and thrive. We want those people in America. A final thought: Google co-founder Sergey Brin's parents immigrated to the United States when he was six years old from Russia. Currently, his father is a math professor at the University of Maryland, and his mother is a research scientist at NASA. Those are two jobs - math professor and research scientist - that could've been held by American citizens that instead went to newer immigrants. But how much better is the world because Brin's family worked hard to come here, worked hard in their jobs, raised Sergey well, and he created Google? You might have short term gains in helping people find jobs by locking out talented, hard working immigrats, but what do you give up for the future? I say - Open the doors to the world's best and brightest, and we'l come out with the most propsersity, good jobs, and amazing lives that we can. Thank you for your time, and best wishes, Sebastian Marshall

joe_the_user 18y ago
"I think the biggest potential issue with the H1-B program is that employees are bound to a particular company once hired, but it looks like at least the major companies pay their foreign employees on par with American workers. That means they're not hiring to keep wages down, but instead to get the best people." Uh, if the second statement were true, then the first condition would not be necessary
geebee 18y ago
It's also very important to note that the terms of the H1B would disallow an "immigrant" from quitting his job and starting a company, because his legal presence in the US is contingent on remaining in the good graces of his employer. The H1B says "we'll allow you to come here to work for Google, but we won't allow you to come here to start a company that competes with Google." That said, it sounds like you don't like this aspect of the H1B visa either - you would probably support a system that preserves more freedom for the guest worker. Lastly, I think you are using "smart, hard-working people" ambiguously. We don't allow hundreds of thousands of foreign lawyers into the US every year. While health care does award some H1B's, Medicine and Dentistry also act as gatekeepers that ensure Americans who pursue these fields are not replaced en masse with foreign nationals. Of course, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, flight attendants, plumbers, meter maids, and almost every other sector of the economy isn't targeted with a work visa. Now, there's so much work to do in high tech that we still may get some Americans in the field. But we still create a relative disincentive to Americans when we allow targeted visas in science and engineering. After all, an American who pursues a law degree doesn't have to compete with foreign lawyers for jobs and clients. But an American who pursues a graduate degree in engineering most definitely does. Do we really want to discourage our citizens from engineering degrees and direct them toward law and other non-technical fields? The answer may actually be "yes." We can get engineers more cheaply from overseas, so we have decided, as a nation, to staff these positions with non us-citizens, and encourage our own citizens to pursue other degree paths and professions. But I think this would be a terrible idea, since a robust, home grown engineering and science profession is crucial to the economic health and security of the United States.
- geebee 18y ago

joe_the_user 18y ago

"I think the biggest potential issue with the H1-B program is that employees are bound to a particular company once hired, but it looks like at least the major companies pay their foreign employees on par with American workers. That means they're not hiring to keep wages down, but instead to get the best people." Uh, if the second statement were true, then the first condition would not be necessary

geebee 18y ago

It's also very important to note that the terms of the H1B would disallow an "immigrant" from quitting his job and starting a company, because his legal presence in the US is contingent on remaining in the good graces of his employer. The H1B says "we'll allow you to come here to work for Google, but we won't allow you to come here to start a company that competes with Google." That said, it sounds like you don't like this aspect of the H1B visa either - you would probably support a system that preserves more freedom for the guest worker. Lastly, I think you are using "smart, hard-working people" ambiguously. We don't allow hundreds of thousands of foreign lawyers into the US every year. While health care does award some H1B's, Medicine and Dentistry also act as gatekeepers that ensure Americans who pursue these fields are not replaced en masse with foreign nationals. Of course, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, flight attendants, plumbers, meter maids, and almost every other sector of the economy isn't targeted with a work visa. Now, there's so much work to do in high tech that we still may get some Americans in the field. But we still create a relative disincentive to Americans when we allow targeted visas in science and engineering. After all, an American who pursues a law degree doesn't have to compete with foreign lawyers for jobs and clients. But an American who pursues a graduate degree in engineering most definitely does. Do we really want to discourage our citizens from engineering degrees and direct them toward law and other non-technical fields? The answer may actually be "yes." We can get engineers more cheaply from overseas, so we have decided, as a nation, to staff these positions with non us-citizens, and encourage our own citizens to pursue other degree paths and professions. But I think this would be a terrible idea, since a robust, home grown engineering and science profession is crucial to the economic health and security of the United States.

geebee 18y ago