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H1B visas are an excuse to pay less for high tech workers IMO. That is what I've always seen as American workers aren't chosen for those jobs because they can m

H1B visas are an excuse to pay less for high tech workers IMO. That is what I've always seen as American workers aren't chosen for those jobs because they can make more money else where. Why isn't this more well known?

Dirlewanger 12y ago
Simple answer: because it's not politically correct to ask about it. Merely questioning anything anything benefiting immigrants and you're instantly labeled an ignorant xenophobic backwoods dweller. Who cares about finding jobs for Americans? Companies wants the cheapest and most expendable resources they can find. Zuckerberg doesn't give a shit about immigration reform, it just so happens that pushing for it aligns with reducing Facebook's human capital costs. Money rules all.
- pyre 12y ago
  It would benefit immigrants too if the immigration process were structured in a way that didn't relegate them to serfs to a single company.
- geebee 12y ago
  The US currently takes about 1.2 million immigrants into the country every year, and of course Facebook is more than welcome to hire these new citizens, just as it would hire any UC citizen regardless or immigration status or national origin. I'm not really surprised Facebook wants to change the composition of immigrants coming to the US. Except for some very narrow programs, immigrants to the US aren't really chosen based on skills and education. So Facebook would much rather support a program where they get to decide who does and does not get to live and work in the US, screening for the kind of worker they'd like to employ. There is also the appeal of an indentured worker, as many people have pointed out. You don't have to be especially cynical to think this is a huge selling point to the corporations that rely heavily on the H1B visa. What would Facebook rather have - a free citizen immigrant who wasn't selected for any particular interest or ability in programming, or an immigrant who is granted the right to live and work in the US provided he or she lives where Facebook says he or she should live? For me, my misgivings come from two main sources. First, I am solidly opposed to corporate control over the immigration system. I don't like the idea of Facebook's HR department deciding who will and who won't become a US citizen, green card holder, or resident. Second, while I certainly think programmers are valuable workers (some of them, anyway), I don't think that there's sufficient evidence of a shortage relative to other knowledge based fields. Out here in SF, software developers earn (at the median) a bit more than dental hygienists, a bit less than registered nurses. I'm not complaining about that, it's fine by me that nurses are paid better than programmers. I just think it suggests that there's really no critical shortage or programmers that the government needs to get involved in resolving by tinkering with the kind of immigrants who get to come to the US. I would be ok with a skilled immigration points system like Australia has, and sure, programming counts as a skill, though I wouldn't put any unusual emphasis on programming vs plumbing, nursing, dental hygiene, or any number of other jobs requiring specialized skills and training.

Dirlewanger 12y ago

Simple answer: because it's not politically correct to ask about it. Merely questioning anything anything benefiting immigrants and you're instantly labeled an ignorant xenophobic backwoods dweller. Who cares about finding jobs for Americans? Companies wants the cheapest and most expendable resources they can find. Zuckerberg doesn't give a shit about immigration reform, it just so happens that pushing for it aligns with reducing Facebook's human capital costs. Money rules all.

pyre 12y ago
It would benefit immigrants too if the immigration process were structured in a way that didn't relegate them to serfs to a single company.
geebee 12y ago
The US currently takes about 1.2 million immigrants into the country every year, and of course Facebook is more than welcome to hire these new citizens, just as it would hire any UC citizen regardless or immigration status or national origin. I'm not really surprised Facebook wants to change the composition of immigrants coming to the US. Except for some very narrow programs, immigrants to the US aren't really chosen based on skills and education. So Facebook would much rather support a program where they get to decide who does and does not get to live and work in the US, screening for the kind of worker they'd like to employ. There is also the appeal of an indentured worker, as many people have pointed out. You don't have to be especially cynical to think this is a huge selling point to the corporations that rely heavily on the H1B visa. What would Facebook rather have - a free citizen immigrant who wasn't selected for any particular interest or ability in programming, or an immigrant who is granted the right to live and work in the US provided he or she lives where Facebook says he or she should live? For me, my misgivings come from two main sources. First, I am solidly opposed to corporate control over the immigration system. I don't like the idea of Facebook's HR department deciding who will and who won't become a US citizen, green card holder, or resident. Second, while I certainly think programmers are valuable workers (some of them, anyway), I don't think that there's sufficient evidence of a shortage relative to other knowledge based fields. Out here in SF, software developers earn (at the median) a bit more than dental hygienists, a bit less than registered nurses. I'm not complaining about that, it's fine by me that nurses are paid better than programmers. I just think it suggests that there's really no critical shortage or programmers that the government needs to get involved in resolving by tinkering with the kind of immigrants who get to come to the US. I would be ok with a skilled immigration points system like Australia has, and sure, programming counts as a skill, though I wouldn't put any unusual emphasis on programming vs plumbing, nursing, dental hygiene, or any number of other jobs requiring specialized skills and training.