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posted by martyb on Wednesday May 07 2014, @05:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the so-highly-skilled-we-need-second-jobs dept.

The Obama administration announced plans to permit the spouses of certain, "highly-skilled" H1B visa holders the right to work too. The backlog of green-card applications for H1B holders can be as much as 11 years. If the goal is to attract and keep more high-quality talent within the USA (rather than H1B off-shoring), it seems like streamlining the "green card" permanent residence process would be more effective. Making the H1B visa a mandatory path to a green card within a very short period, such as 2 years might be a much better way to encourage highly talented individuals to stay in the country compared to requiring more than a decade of uncertainty.

Some claim that this will actually have the perverse effect of enabling IT salaries to fall even further. The New York Times article notes there are representatives who question the wisdom of the proposal and that there is a 60-day comment window.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday May 07 2014, @06:17PM

    by TheGratefulNet (659) on Wednesday May 07 2014, @06:17PM (#40610)

    great idea, for the rich and powerful. better to keep TWO people in fear than just 1, of deportation.

    fear is the new normal. more can be done with fear than any other emotion.

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Angry Jesus on Wednesday May 07 2014, @06:37PM

    by Angry Jesus (182) on Wednesday May 07 2014, @06:37PM (#40621)

    > great idea, for the rich and powerful. better to keep TWO people in fear than just 1, of deportation.

    You don't seem to understand that currently the spouse is already in the country, just sitting at home unable to legally work. The chance of deportation for both is unchanged by this proposal because their residency still depends completely on the H1B holder's employment status.

    • (Score: 1) by fadrian on Thursday May 08 2014, @02:46PM

      by fadrian (3194) on Thursday May 08 2014, @02:46PM (#40910) Homepage

      Yeah, so? They did the calculus with the rules and decided they would be better off, even with the rules as the are. Why change them midway, especially when the effect on wages would be downward? Besides, I'm sure there are a lot of citizen spouses "just sitting at home" because they still can't find employment. Wake me up when the employment issues for people of color and the long-term unemployed are solved. Then we can talk about expansion of the workforce.

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      That is all.
  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday May 07 2014, @06:58PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday May 07 2014, @06:58PM (#40633)

    Is you think that fear is the NEW normal, I've got a few commies to sell to you.
    I'm out of stock on the Indians, the Englishmen, blacks and terrorists are backordered, but there's a fresh shipment of illegals on its way.