Trump's opposition to H-1B visas has experts concerned

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/trumps-opposition-to-h-1b-visas-has-experts-concerned-about-filling-high-skilled-jobs/?linkId=31056932

by dragonbonheur • 10 years ago

29 73 10 years ago

techrepublic.com

maxxxxx• 10 years ago

It actually sounds reasonable. From what I have read the largest H-1B companies are Infosys and Tata. I have worked with Infosys people and they are not paid well and the company is slow at applying for a green card. This is certainly not what H-1B was intended for. If they made it more difficult for these companies but maybe even easier for small companies that have found a foreign worker I am all for it.

biocomputation20• 10 years ago

End H1-B immediately.

Americans, many who simply cannot move to other countries, need to be first in line for access to economic opportunities in this country.

It's utterly disgusting to make American workers second class citizens in their own country. How many more Disney's, Qualcomms, and Southern California Edison's do we need to see before we realize that the program is harmful to Americans?

Then there's the matter of non-profits being exempt from the caps on H1-B visas - this is a significant reason why PHD graduates have trouble finding jobs in their field.

H1-B is bad for America. In my mind, ending H1-B is a matter of social justice for Americans, just like marriage equality.

( Before anyone thinks that I'm a Trump supporter, please be aware that I'm a gay man, and life long Democrat, who is absolutely horrified at the thought of what Trump's choices for the Supreme Court could mean for marriage equality and social justice. Just to be clear: I don't support Trump in any way, shape, or form. )

pj_mukh5• 10 years ago

So if you're not a Trump supporter and actually want to give this a fair shake. Have you perhaps asked WHY H1-B employees are so attractive? They are living in America (same cost of living), so why are their salaries lower? Who is the real second-class human here?

P.S: The answer is that H1-B's are virtually locked into their jobs and have no negotiating power. Give them that and American employees will look magically more attractive.

biocomputation20• 10 years ago

I'm not a Trump supporter. I didn't vote for him, and as noted in my previous post, I am truly horrified when I think about what his Supreme Court choices could mean for marriage equality ( among other things! ).

* We don't need to give H1-B guest workers negotiating power.

* We need to end H1-B and send the guest workers home.

* We need to replace the guest workers with American workers.

Access to jobs, and the economic mobility accompanied by it, is a bedrock social justice issue in America.

It is an enormous social injustice to make American workers compete with foreign nationals for jobs. Frankly, I don't see how it's possible read about American workers having to train their foreign worker replacements and not see it as anything less than deeply and tragically wrong.

MikeHolman• 10 years ago

I'm an American and I work in tech with a bunch of people on H1-Bs, and I think your proposition is ridiculous. The people I work with are really good. We interview a ton of Americans as well, but there just aren't enough strong candidates to fill the positions.

It's not like American tech workers have high unemployment... Maybe some companies exploit the system, but your stance is extreme. We should promote importing talent. Maybe the system needs work, but it doesn't need to be eviscerated.

biocomputation20• 10 years ago

> We interview a ton of Americans as well, but there just aren't enough strong candidates to fill the positions.

Access to jobs is a bedrock social justice issue in America.

If your company didn't have access to foreign H1-B guest workers, you would have two primary options: 1.) hire and train American workers, or 2.) recruit more aggressively by paying even higher wages. A wild guess on my part says that your company would hire the weaker candidates and train them.

I'm all for the first option, but the second option is okay too.

jacques_chester8• 10 years ago

Many people who are now Americans didn't used to be. Are they job thieves?

Many people are the natural-born children of migrants. Are they job thieves?

Some people had ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower. Is everyone else a job thief?

Some people are descended from the aboriginal inhabitants of the continent. Is everyone else a thief?

Aren't you?

biocomputation20• 10 years ago

I don't believe my posts said anything about immigration.

For the record, I support immigration, whether general immigration or for other reasons. To this point, I think it would been totally acceptable to allow the entire population of Syria to either immigrate the US ( green cards on arrival ) or grant safe harbor to those who want to return home until such time as it's safe.

With respect to H1-B: in case I haven't been absolutely clear, I think its socially unjust to make American workers compete with foreign nationals for jobs. This has nothing to do with immigration.

dmode4• 10 years ago

I am confused. Are you saying that specifically H1B should be ended or no foreign individual should ever get a job in the US ?

biocomputation20• 10 years ago

I'm saying end H1-B forever. I fully support immigration. In another post in this thread, I wrote:

"For the record, I support immigration, whether general immigration or for other reasons. To this point, I think it would been totally acceptable to allow the entire population of Syria to either immigrate the US ( green cards on arrival ) or grant safe harbor to those who want to return home until such time as it's safe."

nickthemagicman• 10 years ago

Werent Sergey Brin and Elon Musk immigrants?

Glad we let them in. Lol.

biocomputation20• 10 years ago

Immigration is not the same as H1-B. For the record, in another post in this thread I wrote:

serge2k7• 10 years ago

It's utterly disgusting to make American workers second class citizens in their own country. How many more Disney's, Qualcomms, and Southern California Edison's do we need to see before we realize that the program is harmful to Americans?

They need to get rid of the fraud at places like Disney. Ban Tata and Infosys and other shitty consulting companies from obtaining H-1B ever again. Make the minimum cost 125k (about what MS and Google pay for H-1B), so it's not profitable for people to replace Americans (you get into the range where people are going to earn big bucks either way). Make it easier for an H-1B to switch jobs and announce that whistleblowers will be rewarded (money, green card slot, etc...).

As someone here on a visa I really, really, fucking hate these consulting companies for abusing the program. The company I work for is big, they create loads of jobs. They want to hire people on Visas because they want to hire pretty much anyone they can find who meets their bar.

biocomputation20• 10 years ago

I just don't think this is good enough.

Companies need to hire and train weaker candidates. It is socially unjust to make American workers compete with foreign nationals for jobs.

ganeshkrishnan• 10 years ago

So free market for commodities but throw out the common man trying to make a better life for himself?

Everyone here arguing against H1b saying that US companies should prefer American citizens first are forgetting that most multi-nationals or even American companies earn their money globally. IBM,Apple, Microsoft, Google all earn as much money out of US as inside. Yelling "dey tuk er jerbs" is going to drive them away to where they will find more programmers to do their jobs. You guys don't understand that companies are not tied to national borders.

And plenty of these companies: Microsoft, Google, Pepsi, Mastercard etc have Indian CEOs who are/were on their H1b. Kick them out too?

51% of billion dollar silicon valley companies were founded by immigrants. If you are asking to shut down legal migration and build a wall for illegal immigration you are either deluded about the market or have no idea how economy works.

You live by free market, you die by it.

sfifs• 10 years ago

While I live in India and negative actions on H1B will undoubtedly affect my country, I've struggled to understand how American citizens have tolerated the gaming of H1B for so long.

Since H1B is supposed to be for hiring people with skills in short supply in the US, a reasonable solution would be to award the visas in descending order of pay on the philosophy that a market should value skills in short supply more. A lottery based system in contrast seems to be designed to be gamed by whichever company can stuff applications.

farright• 10 years ago

If we keep the same caps and introduce a minimum wage for H-1B visas, this would be a strict improvement.

I don't know why this would even be controversial, it's basic economics. All developed countries prefer higher paid workers cause those workers pay more tax (and probably have bigger contributions to total surplus). Having a cap and letting it fill up randomly with lower income employees like those from contracting companies, instead of high income employees at big tech companies, is just leaving money on the table.

Trump's opposition to H-1B visas has experts concerned

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