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> Immigration policy in the US is ridiculous. Why is this particular bill aimed at people with advanced degrees only? The majority of software engineers only ha

by eshvk 14y ago

> Immigration policy in the US is ridiculous. Why is this particular bill aimed at people with advanced degrees only? The majority of software engineers only have undergrad degrees and don't really need anything more than that. This is my case and I'm up for a wait of probably 3-4 years for an employer sponsored green card. Do you realize how easy it is to get an undergrad degree in Asia? A vast majority of undergrad degrees there are a joke. What are we going to do? Use Fizz Buzz to evaluate who is qualified to get a green card? I sympathize with you but the problem is that "advanced degrees" is essentially code word for has a degree from a U.S. university which I suspect they want. > The green card lottery is an odd beast and frankly I think is my best bet of getting a green card (coming from a relatively low lottery program participant country of Australia). Agreed. If the employment based green card was my only option, I am fairly certain I would emigrate to Canada or some other destination rather than spend 10+ years tied to an employer waiting for a Green Card. > 2) might well be true but this isn't a bad thing. Doctors in some countries are scarce because the de facto doctor's "union" seeks to constrain supply, raising the cost of health care. For example, by restricting the number of university places in medicine. > As for (1), speaking just about software engineers, there is a worldwide shortage of competent software engineers. There are (IMHO) at least 10 times as many masquerading as software engineers. I am shocked when I see candidates with 10 years of experience who can't write a for loop in the language of their choice on a whiteboard. I kind of agree with you but good luck getting a politician who is beholden to U.S. voters to agree to that. There are already rants about "immigrants stealing jobs" and depressing wages. Free market economics is not highly encouraged around these parts. > Also, let the spouses of H1B holders have a job. I'm an Australian and on an E3 visa (specifically for Australian professionals). One advantage of this is the E3D (spouse visa for an E3 holder) allows that spouse to work. Just FYI. Again, there is a reason that doesn't exist. It is hackable: One person comes in through an H1B and another person gets through the system and "steals a job from a deserving American". Also, how do you handle the situation where the H1B is technically tied to one employer and another employer is somehow gaining by being able to hire their spouse? I suspect the reason it exists for Australians is the low numbers of Australians coming which means the system has been hacked (yet).

notimetorelax 14y ago
Please don't use such words as hackable when discussing immigration policies, and please try to look at the situation from the perspective of an immigrant. I have experienced it on me and know what it's like when your wife cannot work, it's fucked up... If you're an american living in US then you will not understand how difficult it can be for the wife and husband. Look at it from another perspective: if family members are allowed to work then they 1. learn the language 2. better integrate into society 3. grow their career 4. become useful for the economy. You should also consider that wife is not husband's property (also true for the reverse case). If she's not allowed to work than she becomes overly dependent on the husband. I mean com'on I'm so tired of this high-level discussions on immigration, these are people's lives you're talking about. Would you like to lose 5-10 year of your twenties, thirties only to obtain better visa? Would you like to be in the position when you're in a foreign country for multiple years and you cannot break up with your spouse only because of the visa, unless you're willing to go back to your "home" country that is not home to you anymore? EDIT: My point is, if you let person into your country don't put additional barriers. If it's a family you're talking about then benchmark all the family members and then decided whether to let them in or not, don't create second class citizens.
- eshvk 14y ago
  > Please don't use such words as hackable when discussing immigration policies, and please try to look at the situation from the perspective of an immigrant. I am an immigrant on a visa, so yeah I do know both sides of the coin. The term "hackable" was used from the perspective of how USCIS looks at this. > I have experienced it on me and know what it's like when your wife cannot work, it's fucked up... If you're an american living in US then you will not understand how difficult it can be for the wife and husband. Look at it from another perspective: if family members are allowed to work then they 1. learn the language 2. better integrate into society 3. grow their career 4. become useful for the economy. You should also consider that wife is not husband's property (also true for the reverse case). If she's not allowed to work than she becomes overly dependent on the husband. I am sure you may have had bad experiences and there is no doubt that the situation can be hard. Let me offer a counter perspective: I know several immigrants who come here on H1B visas with their wives on H4 visas. From what I understand, they have two options currently : 1. Getting an F1 visa, going to school and then getting a job. 2. Getting a company to sponsor the person for an H1B and then switching from H4 to H1B. Both of these situations are hard, no doubt but not impossible. I personally know people who have done them. Yes, they are limited to people who have the money to go to school or the skillset to get a job as an H1B. > I mean com'on I'm so tired of this high-level discussions on immigration, these are people's lives you're talking about. Would you like to lose 5-10 year of your twenties, thirties only to obtain better visa? Would you like to be in the position when you're in a foreign country for multiple years and you cannot break up with your spouse only because of the visa, unless you're willing to go back to your "home" country that is not home to you anymore? I personally will somewhere else if I had to wait that long. I refuse to believe that my situation (Or that of any high skilled immigrant who gets paid well and lives a regular middle class life) is worse than the countless undocumented immigrants who get exploited for decades and live under the fear of deportation. I am not trying to create a false dichotomy here but consider this from the perspective of the people who make legislation: Why are highly skilled immigrants supposed to be first in line compared to any one else who comes in? > EDIT: My point is, if you let person into your country don't put additional barriers. If it's a family you're talking about then benchmark all the family members and then decided whether to let them in or not, don't create second class citizens. I don't disagree with you in general. However, my comments were strictly from a policy perspective: The purpose of the H1B is to let people in so that they can temporarily fill a need for highly skilled labor. The rules associated with that visa are what they are.

by eshvk 14y ago

notimetorelax 14y ago

Please don't use such words as hackable when discussing immigration policies, and please try to look at the situation from the perspective of an immigrant. I have experienced it on me and know what it's like when your wife cannot work, it's fucked up... If you're an american living in US then you will not understand how difficult it can be for the wife and husband. Look at it from another perspective: if family members are allowed to work then they 1. learn the language 2. better integrate into society 3. grow their career 4. become useful for the economy. You should also consider that wife is not husband's property (also true for the reverse case). If she's not allowed to work than she becomes overly dependent on the husband. I mean com'on I'm so tired of this high-level discussions on immigration, these are people's lives you're talking about. Would you like to lose 5-10 year of your twenties, thirties only to obtain better visa? Would you like to be in the position when you're in a foreign country for multiple years and you cannot break up with your spouse only because of the visa, unless you're willing to go back to your "home" country that is not home to you anymore? EDIT: My point is, if you let person into your country don't put additional barriers. If it's a family you're talking about then benchmark all the family members and then decided whether to let them in or not, don't create second class citizens.

eshvk 14y ago
> Please don't use such words as hackable when discussing immigration policies, and please try to look at the situation from the perspective of an immigrant. I am an immigrant on a visa, so yeah I do know both sides of the coin. The term "hackable" was used from the perspective of how USCIS looks at this. > I have experienced it on me and know what it's like when your wife cannot work, it's fucked up... If you're an american living in US then you will not understand how difficult it can be for the wife and husband. Look at it from another perspective: if family members are allowed to work then they 1. learn the language 2. better integrate into society 3. grow their career 4. become useful for the economy. You should also consider that wife is not husband's property (also true for the reverse case). If she's not allowed to work than she becomes overly dependent on the husband. I am sure you may have had bad experiences and there is no doubt that the situation can be hard. Let me offer a counter perspective: I know several immigrants who come here on H1B visas with their wives on H4 visas. From what I understand, they have two options currently : 1. Getting an F1 visa, going to school and then getting a job. 2. Getting a company to sponsor the person for an H1B and then switching from H4 to H1B. Both of these situations are hard, no doubt but not impossible. I personally know people who have done them. Yes, they are limited to people who have the money to go to school or the skillset to get a job as an H1B. > I mean com'on I'm so tired of this high-level discussions on immigration, these are people's lives you're talking about. Would you like to lose 5-10 year of your twenties, thirties only to obtain better visa? Would you like to be in the position when you're in a foreign country for multiple years and you cannot break up with your spouse only because of the visa, unless you're willing to go back to your "home" country that is not home to you anymore? I personally will somewhere else if I had to wait that long. I refuse to believe that my situation (Or that of any high skilled immigrant who gets paid well and lives a regular middle class life) is worse than the countless undocumented immigrants who get exploited for decades and live under the fear of deportation. I am not trying to create a false dichotomy here but consider this from the perspective of the people who make legislation: Why are highly skilled immigrants supposed to be first in line compared to any one else who comes in? > EDIT: My point is, if you let person into your country don't put additional barriers. If it's a family you're talking about then benchmark all the family members and then decided whether to let them in or not, don't create second class citizens. I don't disagree with you in general. However, my comments were strictly from a policy perspective: The purpose of the H1B is to let people in so that they can temporarily fill a need for highly skilled labor. The rules associated with that visa are what they are.