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A comment on H-1B visa: Government says work ban for H-4 spouses coming this month.

Re:H-1B visa: Government says work ban for H-4 spouses comin... by anonymous_i on Thursday May 23, 2019 @01:14AM (#19988713)
I will throw a different perspective here on why tightening regulations on H-4 spouse work is important:

- Fact is everyone comes to the US to have a better economic life.

- Even asylum seekers, would want to move to the US over any other progressive European nation , because, American Dream, easy upwards mobility, diversity. This is a personal observation.

Let me shed some light on how it works for Indian people. You can extrapolate it to other entities too.

  - Indian girls in general conveniently marry a US living 
    husband of their parents choice(not all but many), and 
    compete for the same jobs with kids who finished their 
    Masters Degrees here.

  - H-1B visa system is fucked up. Infosys and Wipro and 
    TCS ship tons of their employees to the US.These people 
    work at a price less than the current market price.
- This is bad for three reasons:

   - Kids don't want to come to the United States to do their Masters because, job market 
     is tight. Its bad for schools and kids too. Schools for those foreign dollars, for kids- its important to have
     an exposure to outside world - this helps shape world view in a tremendously good way.

   - These people are employed mostly to replace existing American workers.

   - From my observations, the reason I am biased in favouring kids coming here for 
     Masters is because, with in the time it takes to finish their education, and the 
     time it takes to find a job, they imbibe American culture. This may sound silly, but 
     it is very important. These people at some time will become citizens and will become 
     part of national discourse. 

  - Contractors shipped by Infosys and Wipro and TCS could never be part of that. It is 
    hardly possible. Again , its a personal observation.
- So , how do all these things tie together

   - Someone who finishes his Masters in the United States is expected to find a job with in three months of his 
     OPT(Optional Practical Training) start date.

   - Now these people are mostly by themselves and invested heavily for their education. No reason why these people 
     flock to so called 'consultancies'.

   - Compare that to the spouses of existing H-1B visa holders, who never invested anything here. No cultural 
     investment, nor education. They have a security to live here for as long as their relatively smart husband is 
     allowed to live. With unlimited amount of time compared to some one with a Masters degree, they are at a 
     disproportionate advantage.

   - People finishing Masters should be given precedence over H4 spouses and H-1B's(for reasons above) hired by 
     outsourcing companies.

   - There is more to it than we know.For all the xenophobia, this administration is displaying there are times, 
     they are not wrong.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:H-1B visa: Government says work ban for H-4 spouses comin... by strikelaserclaw on Thursday May 23, 2019 @10:21AM (#19992045)
These kids who come to do masters essentially live in "Indian" or "Chinese" enclaves. Not sure how much american culture they absorb. I've also seen many cases of rampant cheating on homework and exams. I'm not sure how qualified many of these so called "Masters" students are. My cousin who went to Columbia for masters also complained about this in most of his classes (If this is done at the highest level of education, i could only guess what happens at mid tier or lower tier universities).
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Re:H-1B visa: Government says work ban for H-4 spouses comin... by conanbatt on Thursday May 23, 2019 @01:48AM (#19988849)
> Kids don't want to come to the United States to do their Masters because, job market is tight.

US has lowest unemployment in decades. The tightness is on employers.

> These people are employed mostly to replace existing American workers.

As solid economic thinking as saying US should ban all imports, since that takes jobs from americans

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:H-1B visa: Government says work ban for H-4 spouses comin... by anonymous_i on Thursday May 23, 2019 @03:09AM (#19989283)
> Kids don't want to come to the United States to do their Masters because, job market is tight. US has lowest unemployment in decades. The tightness is on employers.

Sorry, I think , you misread my comment or rather may be I wasnt clear enough.

I meant kids don't want to come , if the job market is tight.

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Re:H-1B visa: Government says work ban for H-4 spouses comin... by nonamechicken on Thursday May 23, 2019 @03:37AM (#19989415)
The students who come to US for MS spend 2 years of their studies. They are not going to magically follow American culture all of a sudden. If one goes to any Hindu temple in US, you will find a huge number of these students.

Another thing is H4 is not something unique to the Infosys crowd. The Infosys crowd usually gets sent back to India once their deputation is over, they don't even get a chance to apply for h4.

An h1b spouse gets h4 only after the h1b's employer files for their green card and they complete the i140 stage. Companies usually file this towards the end of 6 years so that the h1bs are forced to continue with their employer for as long as possible. So the spouses would be waiting doing absolutely nothing during that period. Compared to those working in American consultancies, the Infosys crowd rarely gets a chance to stay in US for that long. So majority of h4 beneficiaries are not working for the likes of Infosys.

>Now these people are mostly by themselves and invested heavily for their education. No reason why these people flock to so called 'consultancies'. -

The reality is these US students are one of the biggest groups who flock to the consultancies. They are desperate to get a h1b before their time runs out, so they settle for anything they get, which means usually a level 1 salary. Some also resort to scams such as faking experiences in their resume, paying consultancies money in return for keeping them in status and so on.

How to Spot H-1B Fraud & Fake OPT Candidates: https://www.bridge.us/blog/how-to-spot-h1b-fraud-fake-opt-ca...

Hundreds of Indian students held in US for immigration violation:https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/600-indian-student...

US-India Farmington university row: 'I fled after fake college raid':https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47154187

Fake university students knew they were committing visa 'crime':https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/fake-uni...

How the American Dream Drives Indian Students Towards Shady US Universities: https://thewire.in/education/indian-students-arent-abusing-t...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:H-1B visa: Government says work ban for H-4 spouses comin... by anonymous_i on Thursday May 23, 2019 @06:47AM (#19990446)
> The students who come to US for MS spend 2 years of their studies. They are not going to magically follow American culture all of a sudden. If one goes to any Hindu temple in US, you will find a huge number of these students.

Nope they do. No Indian kid ever worked in a petty job(at least ones that I know of) until they started at a US university.That teaches a lot about value of work and value of people. They get weaved inside the fabric of Murrican society.

> Another thing is H4 is not something unique to the Infosys crowd. The Infosys crowd usually gets sent back to India once their deputation is over, they don't even get a chance to apply for h4.

I am not pointing out Infosys alone. I am using Inofsys to exemplify the likes of it. So, does the crowd really go back once the tenure is over ? Not really. Every one I knew, once they landed here jumped to a different employer and became a contractor for them. Thanks to H1B. Their H4 spouses got a free ticket to live with them. I am not saying its wrong. I am saying H4 spouses are disproportionately at advantage over other immigrant groups in gaining employment.

> The reality is these US students are one of the biggest groups who flock to the consultancies. They are desperate to get a h1b before their time runs out, so they settle for anything they get, which means usually a level 1 salary. Some also resort to scams such as faking experiences in their resume, paying consultancies money in return for keeping them in status and so on.

True. Thats what I said. If we do not curb H4 based immigration, this is only going to increase.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:H-1B visa: Government says work ban for H-4 spouses comin... by the_common_man on Thursday May 23, 2019 @09:08AM (#19991342)
H4 ead can only be got after a green card application. So there is really no unfair advantage
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