SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The Department of Homeland Security announced a rule change Wednesday that will transform the lottery that decides who gets the 85,000 H-1B visas granted to for-profit companies every year.
Previously, an initial lottery granted 20,000 visas only to those holding advanced degrees granted by U.S. institutions — master’s degrees or doctorates — and then a general lottery granted 65,000 visas to all qualified applicants.
The Department of Homeland Security switched the order of these lotteries, it said in a notice of the final rule change, which will bolster the odds for highly educated foreign nationals. The change reduces the likelihood that people with just a bachelor’s degree will win in the general lottery, said Lisa Spiegel, an attorney at Duane Morris in San Francisco and head of the firm’s immigration group.
The program shift could hurt technology staffing companies, also known as outsourcers, who have a reputation for flooding the lottery with applications. Three Indian firms — Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro — often account for a majority of the H-1B applications, an analysis of government data shows.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @03:46PM (1 child)
If the Indian education system churns out Doctorates and Masters in a manner similar to this https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-31998343/ [bbc.com] style of learning, accrediation, and validation of skills, then I fear that Americans have been doing it wrong all these years!
I mean... my parents grounded me when I received poor grades--something about learning from the experience and negative outcomes lead to bad results, etc. Maybe it didn't inspire me to study as much as they hoped, but it kept me in line at least.
The parents in the article seem to have taken a different (and very direct) approach to the educational system! Who needs to study when you can do that??
Anyway, I am incredibly curious how validation and attestation of the actual degrees involved will be verified on authenticated. We have all met people with degrees or certifications next to their names that might otherwise have left one wondering how someone so dumb could achieve that stuff (on paper, at least).
I hope we don't end up becoming jaded as a society that education isn't worth it, due to working with an influx of the best-of-the-best that really just meant as far as skills and education is concerned, they had rich parents with good connections, and everything else was learned on the job (or not even that, and instead outsourced to "lessers").
Heaven forbid they feel entitled; that arrogant expectation happens outside of the USA, too! https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29950843/ [bbc.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @03:57PM
Argh it didn't log me in. Well. let it be known I thought that picture in the first link is classic; it's an old article but I still am amazed by it! My high chool wouldn't let us even listen to a transistor radio, let alone cds or tapes or anything pre-recorded, nor books or anything at all, and anyone humming or bouncing their knees or something to some internal beat would be visited and told to stop.
We got to sit and stare when we completed our tests ahead of anyone else, and had to do it quietly (groans of anguish were OK on occasion).
It seems like some other educational systems are more festive in nature compared to what I experienced with public schooling!