H-1B: Federal judge backs government’s narrower view of ‘specialty occupation’

Re:H-1B: Federal judge backs government’s narrower view of ‘... by trustfundbaby on Thursday July 18, 2019 @03:50PM (#20473316)

The simple solution is to give every h1b worker a temporary green card or somehow allow them free mobility of work within the United states. Being allowed to move jobs at will, vs being beholden to the hiring companies for sponsorship, will quickly kill these body shops and also let us know if tech firms really are being honest about a shortage of skilled engineers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:H-1B: Federal judge backs government’s narrower view of ‘... by WrtCdEvrydy on Thursday July 18, 2019 @03:55PM (#20473359)

Would never happen.

Too many people benefit from having a slave that can't leave their job without getting deported.

> shortage of skilled engineers

...at peanut pricing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:H-1B: Federal judge backs government’s narrower view of ‘... by trustfundbaby on Thursday July 18, 2019 @04:50PM (#20473797)

exactly. It makes too much sense. Which is why it needs to happen, Canada has a skilled worker program and they give you a green card when you arrive. America doesn't need a visa designation in my opinion, just copy the skilled worker designation from Canada and you're there.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:H-1B: Federal judge backs government’s narrower view of ‘... by opportune on Thursday July 18, 2019 @04:21PM (#20473576)

I think that you would still want some restrictions like they have to work in the same industry for at least e.g. 80% of the total comp of their first job in the US until they get a real green card. Otherwise there are different abuse patterns that could happen.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:H-1B: Federal judge backs government’s narrower view of ‘... by yazan94 on Thursday July 18, 2019 @04:48PM (#20473781)

I don't think this solution makes sense. I agree that , from an ethical standpoint, there should to be better protections for H1B holders. But giving everyone free reign to change jobs is also ripe for abusing the system and possibly flooding the market without a general way to gauge need for that particular H1B applicant's skillset.

Currently, the process is that you need to find a company that is willing to sponsor you, then that company needs to file paperwork with the government to explain the wages, job description, etc. And then this application is either accepted or rejected based on whatever guidelines they use[1].

If we keep this situation and start allow workers to move around wherever they want, the company just ate the paperwork legal costs and the role they hired for might not even stay filled for long, prompting them to redo the process.

[1] https://www.immi-usa.com/h1b-application-process-step-by-ste...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:H-1B: Federal judge backs government’s narrower view of ‘... by jogjayr on Thursday July 18, 2019 @06:28PM (#20474545)

> the company just ate the paperwork legal costs and the role they hired for might not even stay filled for long,

Would you expect a company to be able to retain US citizen employees if it underpaid or gave boring work?

Switching jobs is a stressful, non-trivial process. Most people who are happy with their job don't want to change it. If the company can't retain an employee on the merits of its own offerings and compensation, that's too bad.

[ Parent | on HN ]