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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.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Thursday May 08 2014, @01:08AM
The real danger though is to the unemployable spouse who finds themselves abandoned by a jerk ex-partner. More than few people - usually women of course - found themselves stranded in the US with no money, no job, and no way to get either.
With 20+ million "undocumented immigrants," it's not exactly "no way" to get a job. However if the person prefers to return to their country, a consulate may help in contacting someone in the country of citizenship to pay for transportation. Otherwise nobody has an obligation to be your guardian angel.
And no government on either side of the border willing to foot the bill for them to get home.
The government of the destination country may be required by law to assist. But if the leaving party has to fly far away (say, from the USA to India) then they need to find a few thousand dollars. It may require working for a year illegally in an Indian restaurant, washing dishes. It's not pleasant, but life is not guaranteed to be pleasant.
(Score: 1) by fadrian on Thursday May 08 2014, @02:57PM
With 20+ million "undocumented immigrants," it's not exactly "no way" to get a job.
This. Besides, isn't this what the "sharing economy" supposed to facilitate? Why doesn't the spouse go on Task Rabbit for odd jobs or rent their car out as a cab - last I checked no one was asking folks they hire on TR for I-9 information? Or are those jobs "beneath" the spouse of an H1-B holder? After all, those "jobs" are good enough for American twenty-somethings, they must be fine for H1-B spouses, too.
That is all.