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Re:H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies by belltaco on Friday November 30, 2018 @11:21PM (#18575128)
So looks like the free market solution already worked in your case. You can have the govt administer TOEFL for everyone but companies can do it right now, asking the contractor that only people that pass TOEFL be allowed to work on the project.

What social system burden? H1Bs are ineligible for unemployment benefits even though they are forced to pay for state unemployment insurance. Ineligible for food stamps because they don't have a green card and getting one will take atleast a decade of working. They pay social security taxes but are ineligible for SS unless they keep paying into it for about 10 years and are older than 65. Ineligible till they're 65 for Medicaid even though they pay Medicaid taxes. If they leave the country before that age they get no benefits.

The only burden they may cause if they get very sick or in an accident and get taken to the emergency hospital where they have to legally treat them. You want a society where a fellow human is dying on the roads because you don't want to save a few cents per year for it in taxes because they were born in the wrong place? You want the ambulance to check their papers and finances before administering first aid?

Are there reports of people coming in on work visas and then becoming a public charge? I've seen several people just leave the country if they get laid off and can't find a job. There are much better opportunities and families back home for them than being essentially homeless in the US. Perhaps some start working at gas stations temporarily and the like.

Re:H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies by pm90 on Saturday December 01, 2018 @01:42AM (#18575585)
Your logic seems weird to me. His company was promised a service that was unable to be fulfilled because a Government program for making available talented non-citizens actually failed. He is suggesting that the program be run as expected. While you seem to be saying it’s ok to let in unqualified folks because they will ultimately always make a positive economic impact before inevitably getting kicked out.
Re:H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies by belltaco on Saturday December 01, 2018 @01:52AM (#18575612)
No, his company was literally promised nothing by the government, everything was promised by Infosys or whatever staffing company they used and they were gullible enough to believe them. If they had been misled by staffing companies like IBM using citizen employees who were fresh out of high school or with no IT experience and totally incompetent, would you blame the government as well? You cannot expect the government to be a nanny for companies that should know better. It's your logic that's weird.

Even if they had hired something directly, the government program is only responsible for checking the educational degrees, the level of security risk they may pose and not much else. Ever go to the DMV and not feel like everything can be a hundred times better if they tried a bit more? That's how efficiently and effectively government bureaucracy typically runs. There are really bad examples out there happening in overseas consulates. There was a guy whose passport was returned unstamped four times over a time period of 6 months although he was granted the visa.

You want the government to conduct knowledge tests(what kind of knowledge test?) and language tests for everyone that companies want to hire? Why should competent companies that can make proper hires be punished by even more bureaucracy and delays because a few companies cannot be bothered to be competent in choosing employees to hire or good staffing companies?

If you think it works well, why not extend the same govt run knowledge tests to citizens before companies hire them locally? If the government is good at scouting for talent overseas and then spoonfeed them to companies, why can't it do the same locally so companies can save HR costs?

The government via the H1B program does not promise vetted and amazing talent to companies. All it does is say "If you're having difficulty hiring citizens locally but find someone talented who is not a citizen, we will provide a way for you to legally hire them as long as they have a four year bachelors degree".

Anyway my point was that the free market solution is being held back because of the power that staffing companies and regular companies hold over their immigrant employees. Reduce or remove that power and natural market forces will kick in and automatically hurt staffing companies and normal companies that are trying to game the system by paying less or making people work more or stick with their jobs for years on end. You cannot imagine the levels of stress and anxiety immigrants go through in fear of being legally out of status within an hour and subject to deportation. I think everyone how bad it feels to get fired or laid off. Now multiple that by ten because you have no legal status anymore. It is so bad that some were seeking psychological help, therapy and counseling when Trump got elected because of panic attacks.

Even if companies find only talented people, what's stopping companies from overworking and underpaying them, and not giving them pay hikes as their experience goes up? The same abuse that reduces labor power in the market will still happen.

Companies will be forced to pay more and treat them well by not overworking them, or else immigrants will switch jobs sooner than later. If any of the above happens, they'd hire from overseas less or stop doing it because it's not as profitable anymore compared to hiring local citizens, unless they need really someone talented that they cannot find locally, in which case competent people that were selected via interviews will come in, instead of incompetent people.

This would be a huge blow to the third party placemtn body shop business model which is where a lot of abuse happens. It'd go belly up overnight unless pay rates goes up. Why would someone stick with them instead of joining the clients directly.

If a company brings in someone incompetent, they pay the price for having a bad employee compared to their competitors. Even if they fire them, that company just wasted a lot of time and money in fees and salary etc. onboarding someone they had to fire.

If people are fired, let them stay legally stay for a few months trying to find a new job and then start accruing illegal status after that time. What purpose is served by kicking people out immediately causing them to violate rent leases and sell their possessions in a big rush? If anything, it helps the local economy a bit.

Remember how Google, Apple, etc. etc. got into deep trouble for no-poaching agreements and were dealt a heavy fine for hurting the labor market? There is a similar effect going on now with tying visas to companies and making it hard for immigrants to switch jobs. Having vetted and talented people stuck in jobs for years at low pay rates and high work hours isn't going to help the situation.

Re:H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies by tracer4201 on Saturday December 01, 2018 @02:34AM (#18575764)
>No, his company was literally promised nothing by the government, everything was promised by Infosys or whatever staffing company they used.

The government is offering a program to bring in the best and brightest to fulfill jobs that we can't otherwise fill. It needs to do a better job regulating that program, because it's clearly being abused. If it can't afford to regulate it or doesn't believe that regulation is affordable or a good use of tax payer money, than the government should rescind that program.

It's really that simple.

Re:H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies by belltaco on Saturday December 01, 2018 @03:38AM (#18575926)
>The government is offering a program to bring in the best and brightest to fulfill jobs that we can't otherwise fill.

Show me where the H1B program or mandate says anything about the best and brightest. Perhaps you confused H1B with the O-1 visa program or the EB-1 priority green card employment category?

>or doesn't believe that regulation is affordable or a good use of tax payer money, than the government should rescind that program.

The program isn't run from tax payer money, it pays for itself and then some.

>How is the Uscis funded?

>Funding. Unlike most other federal agencies, USCIS is funded almost entirely by user fees. Under President George W. Bush's FY2008 budget request, direct congressional appropriations made about 1% of the USCIS budget and about 99% of the budget was funded through fees.

On top of the application fee that funds USCIS, there is a visa fee to fund the consulate visa process. And top of that there is a $500 anti-fraud fee per application. On top of that there is another large fee that is used to fund job training for citizens which has raised billions of dollars so far that has been used to help train citizens. On top of that some types of employers are charged another large fee to fund.... border security with Mexico! shrug. Just the fees can cost $4000 to $5000. There is also yet another $1400 on top of all this to process the application faster, otherwise it can take 8 months to more than a year. Google it if you want to find out the details.

Sorry, but it is clear from our conversation that you don't have the first clue about anything related to this topic. I won't be replying anymore until you try and bring yourself up to speed on what you're ranting and raving about based on one off anecdotal bad experience.

Re:H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies by tracer4201 on Saturday December 01, 2018 @07:29PM (#18579985)
>Show me where the H1B program or mandate says anything about the best and brightest. Perhaps you confused H1B with the O-1 visa program or the EB-1 priority green card employment category?

I thought the whole intent was to bring in people to work jobs because we don't have talented people to fill those positions? Or has that definition shifted according to your perspective?

>The program isn't run from tax payer money, it pays for itself and then some.

It allows companies to flood the market with extra talent to keep wages suppressed while also holding leverage over folks who can either shut up or go back to Hyderabad. Someone is making money off of it, for sure. I don't think it's in the best interest of the job market and specifically earners, and you haven't convinced anyone that it is.

>Just the fees can cost $4000 to $5000.

Is $5,000 that much money to you? I would argue the cost of H1B's are much higher, especially when you consider the number of folks coming in who are unqualified and simply holding a job so a bunch of middle men can take a cut of their pay, not to mention the extra paperwork and headache it causes someone like me because I can gamble on an H1B contractor through Infosys or Larsen and Toubro or find an alternative means to fill head count.

>Sorry, but it is clear from our conversation that you don't have the first clue about anything related to this topic. I won't be replying anymore until you try and bring yourself up to speed on what you're ranting and raving about based on one off anecdotal bad experience.

My experience is with all the people previously in multiple non-tech companies and then two of FANGs, including my current one.

>I won't be replying anymore until you try and bring yourself up to speed on what you're ranting and raving about based on one off anecdotal bad experience.

Your responses get more and more emotional, which (I could be wrong) makes me think you're an H1B yourself or have an inherent bias towards H1B's because of family or other connections.

FYI - Showcasing your frustration that we don't believe you at your word and throwing a hissy fit doesn't convince anyone you're correct. If that's your method of convincing people of your ideas, you won't get very far and if you do, the people you work with will jump ship because of you.

Re:H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies by manishyt on Saturday December 01, 2018 @02:46AM (#18575794)
I whole heartedly agree with your free market solution. However, one of the concerns is that immigrants are often ready to work on lower pay just to get in the country. So, wouldn't they bring down the overall wages of these jobs and affect citizens? Are you suggesting that they would switch jobs for better pay once they move to the US in effect balancing the job market?
Re:H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies by belltaco on Saturday December 01, 2018 @03:19AM (#18575880)
Yes. If you bring someone in for $50K but their market price is $90K and it's easy to switch, why would that person not switch jobs ASAP?

When that happens, the company takes a hit and is less likely next time to bring in more people because of the associated costs of HR, interviews , visa fees, immigration lawyers, onboarding, time wasted on getting them up to speed on the project etc.

It would be a huge blow to body shops.

This results in fewer people coming in unless they are really needed.

Right now H1B employees are stuck in jobs without normal pay hikes for years and can be forced to work longer hours. That's how the companies make their costs back and much more.