The H1B is a “dual intent” visa, meaning you can apply for permanent residency while you have it. But you must maintain your H1B the entire time, which can be a decade or more for folks from places like India. You can transfer an H1B but it’s not easy and if you quit your job you must line another one up in 60 days or say goodbye to the life you’ve built yourself in the US. Some employers are happy to take advantage of this.
Well, the downside is for the companies exploiting migrants and those are the ones donating money to the people who make decisions. Lobbying is legally bribing them and the effect is that the politicians don't represent the people who vote for them but the corporations.
And No, this is not a cynical take but a factual one.
1. H1Bs are _auctioned_ instead of raffled. You really need that H1B? Prove it - pay for it. 2. Sponsoring companies are responsible for cost of living for that employee for the entire duration of their H1B. That obligation can be transferred to another company.
3. (Bonus) After reaching a certain threshold of "taxes paid to the U.S." (maybe 300k or something) H1B holders _automatically_ get their green cards. No questions asked. If you can take that much of their money, they can be citizens.
If we understand the act of giving a green card to mean the US wants that person to join the society for the long term, is "taxes paid" really the best measure of desirability?
As for #2, the main issue now is more of supply and demand. The US only gives out 140,000 employment based green cards a year (plus some from other unused categories), which also includes the worker's families. There are far more ways to get an employment based green card than through H1B. The problems we're hearing about are less to do with the process (which _is_ byzantine) and more to do with that there are not enough green cards to go around.
And just as an aside, there's no labor certification for an H1B, e.g. a company isn't saying they need that worker so so much. A company just wins the lottery and agrees to pay at least what the DoL says is the prevailing wage for the occupation. If they later want to get a green card for that employee, they have to redo the prevailing wage determination AND make an attempt to hire an citizen/GC before they can get the GC (or the employee has to prove they have exceptional skills that gains them international recognition, among other things which includes "being paid way more than your peers")
I think this is a good idea in general. One of the main complained about immigration is some supposed cost to the barely-existing US welfare system. Having a minimum lifetime tax before getting access to that seems like a decent compromise to calm down the xenophobes
The current estimate for Indians is 140 years [0].
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/united-states-green-ca...
And I’m saying this because there are places like Dubai where you very often get your passport taken on arrival, can’t leave the state and can’t really go work somewhere else. There is a lot more to say, but that qualifies as “modern slavery”.
On an H1B you are free to leave whenever, and under certain circumstances forced to.
It’s a black and white difference. I don’t grasp why it’s hard to understand.
i mean, this is meant to be a jobs visa. The fact that if you quit said job, you no longer have a reason to be given to stay, seems pretty normal. You are free to leave, it doesn't mean leaving is consequence free.
It isn’t, it’s a dual intent visa. Job and path to permanent residency.
the gov't doesn't intent this visa to be dual purpose. It is a job visa first and foremost, and the path to PR is at best a secondary concern for the gov't.
I love when authortiarians use degrees of coercion to say "well technically YOU ARE free. But not free from consequences".
It's such a disingenuous line of argumentation.
When your passport is confiscated, you get arrested at the airport.
When you are tired of your H1B job, you can just leave. The fact that you lose your position in the queue for a potential PR is irrelevant.
Now: the system can own a slave.
Just to further complicate it, for many people _your employer_ has to apply for permanent residency on your behalf which is another 2 year ordeal and fair bit of money (that's just to get the green card priority date, not to mention waiting for the green card itself which varies by country). And that further indentures you since if you leave during that period you effectively abandon that application.
H1B might not meet the legal definition of modern slavery even though many are trapped just as effectively by the system but everyone in evolved with employing them is morally compromised just the same.
If an H-1B worker does quit their job, or even if they get fired, they have a very tight deadline under the immigration laws to depart the country. This applies regardless of what financial obligations they may have as a renter or homeowner and regardless of the situation of the rest of their family.
And if after their job ends they rush out of the country to meet the immigration deadline, any lingering ties to the US will make it harder for them to convince CBP to let them re-enter on visitor status, so the departure may in some circumstances be either temporarily or permanently one-way as well as rushed.
The severity of this disruption forces many H-1B workers to meekly put up with a lot more abuse and mistreatment at work than do US citizens, LPRs, and those lucky few categories of nonimmigrants whose work authorizations are not tied to their employment. Agreed, it’s not slavery, but it’s not full freedom either.
A more humane approach would be what Canada does: holders of Canadian employer-specific work permits who quit or lose their job are nevertheless legally allowed to remain in Canada until their current work permit expires, although not to work for a different Canadian employer without first receiving a new permit. They can rely on this predictability of legal status in the country when signing leases, planning their children’s education, and other matters. And it often gives them far more time than the tight US deadline to find a new employer to sponsor a subsequent work permit.
It's a very exploitative situation with extra steps where there's little they can do to protect themselves once in the country.
They can just endure until they're out of it.
H1B, L1 etc visa schemes make you indentured to the system. The longer you stay and invest in your home and social life (which as a human you have to, otherwise you become a mindless drone), the more you are indentured to the system. Indenture is built into the visa contract – you cannot quit your current employer and stay unemployed even for a short period of time – even though you did contribute social security every single month, even though you paid all taxes every single month – you get no benefits.
So, you are in constant fear of losing your job and having to throw away your entire investment here. This means you will be pliable in many ways you would otherwise not be. You can be denied promotions, you can be given shitty/grunt work, you can be given borderline unethical work, you can be asked to fire other people in unsympathetic ways, you can be asked to work weekends and nights without any overtime pay, you can be asked to travel very long distances for work in economy class and so on and you shall not complain.
You can only suffer silently until you get another job. Btw, you cannot get any random job you like. You have to get a job where the employer is willing to go through the rigmarole of visa process - which narrows the field significantly.
What you have said in the comment is not applicable for competent professionals.
Even in the best case, as the 60 day deadline gets closer you also have to plan for the contingency and start planning how to uproot your life. Pack your belongings, sell your car, plan to take the kids out of school for at least the current school year. Even if you get the H1B approval a few days after you return to your home country, visa stamping can take months so you have to plan for an extended absence and the good possibility that you won't be able to return.
Sure we can say that this is exactly what H1B workers signed up for when they came to the US and it is true that no one goes into this blind. However it is not a pleasant situation to be in, and the fear of facing this, especially in the kind of job market we saw in 2023, takes its toll on families.
The occasional civics lessons done over lunch in my career have been eye opening in more than one way. Interestingly, many H1B's are allergic to unionizing as well. Probably another facet of the demand for more of them.
that's putting it too far - they are free to leave or quit as they wish. Unlike the true modern slavery of which is migrant workers (like described here https://www.antislavery.org/world-cup-2022-the-reality-for-m...), where their passports are confiscated, etc.
H1B is exploiting the rules for cheap labour. It does benefit the H1B holder - since they would otherwise not have signed up. The losers in the situation are the local workers who expect to be paid higher, but is out-competed by these foreign workers.