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Trump is planning on signing an executive order on Tuesday that will cause a review of the H1-B program. It is just a review, and undoubtedly business interests will step up the pressure, but there are some interesting ideas:
"If you change that current system that awards visas randomly, without regard or skill or wage, to a skill-based awarding, it makes it extremely difficult to use the visa to replace or undercut American workers, because you're not bringing in workers at beneath the market wage," the official said. "So it's a very elegant way of solving systemic problems in the H-1B guest worker visa."
Breitbart of course has an article out (though it reads like they need to hire some native speaking editors) -- still, recent college grads face a huge hurdle:
The federal government releases little data on the many different guest-worker programs, but the available evidence says the national population of white-collar contract workers is up to 1.5 million. That population is roughly twice the population of 800,000 Americans who graduate from college with skilled degrees each year.
And finally, lest people forget that progressives also have issues with H1-B visas, here is Bernie Sanders (a decade ago of course) attacking this ploy to make sure money only trickles up by ensuring low wages. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR9QdQIKqMc
[Ed Note: Trump did sign the executive order at a photo op in Wisconsin.]
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @02:37PM (36 children)
Please take your editorializing somewhere else, and report only facts about the story. I can't stand the snark, and most other media outlets have articles that read like they need to higher someone with a brain.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @02:41PM (2 children)
Ooooh. Ouch. I, too, hate when that happens; all of the power of your statement has just been blown away like a fart in the wind.
The Universe loves itself some irony.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @08:04PM (1 child)
As much as I like your comment (I consider it to be a form of hire education, regarding proper selection of employees etc...)
It should be noted that the H1B issue has primarily been considered to have been caused by the republican party.
"Progressives" have been complaining about this for some time, with the exception of other helpful resources like Lou Dobbs, who has been going on about this for close to 20 years if not longer.
The real cause, though, are business executives. It doesn't seem to matter who is in office; the only ones that have wanted to do something about it are those not presently in office.
To see Trump look into this as a true issue is not going to remove any animosity he may have generated due to other actions of his, but it goes a long way to help smooth over the bumps that exist.
At least in a case like this, if Americans in the IT industry can get and reliably keep a job, maybe they wouldn't need subsidies with the ACA when they are forced to be consultants because companies don't want the baggage of employees and the benefits/entitlements people seem to demand. It could be they actually might be able to afford the insurance!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @11:07PM
Trump isn't now just looking into the issue; this H1-B visa stuff was a major part of his campaign, but you "progressive" fools never bother to actually listen to what any opposition candidate has to say.
Also, why are there benefits/entitlements demanded of companies? Well, because of decades of governmental meddling: Look up the history of wage caps put in place during WWII for the beginnings of the Health Care nightmare. It's ALWAYS government that is at fault.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday April 19 2017, @03:26PM (32 children)
H-1B is widely derided and despised. Is there a reason for that? Should we all just shut up and suck it?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday April 19 2017, @03:44PM (8 children)
Indentured servitude as a form of slavery devalues your fellow man, so in a sense slavery devalues yourself.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday April 19 2017, @04:44PM (6 children)
Mumble mumble violently imposed monopoly mumble mumble mutually beneficial contracts mumble unicorns mumble rainbow ponies mumble competitive enforcers mumble...
Nope, still can't figure out how he does it...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @05:39PM (5 children)
Man
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @07:15PM (3 children)
Woman
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @07:35PM (2 children)
Aardvark.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @08:39PM
Mardwark
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @09:18PM
Platypus
(Score: 1) by charon on Wednesday April 19 2017, @07:27PM
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Wednesday April 19 2017, @06:19PM
H1s as used today. No so much in the past.
I lived in the USA as an H1 non-resident alien twice, going back to my home country (and some others) in between. During my second H1 stint, I was able to change employer, get a green card and eventually become a citizen. No indentured servitude and I don't think that I was a cheap employee: in fact, I am quite certain that I cost my first H1 employer far more than local hires.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday April 19 2017, @03:54PM (18 children)
It's not despised by the people who use them, of course.
My girlfriend is a 3d design artist working on a technical student education visa extension, and is currently trying to get an H1-B because she likes the culture of the US more than her home culture.
She brings useful and productive skills, and I kinda feel miffed that abstract economic protectionism might lead to her being sent away. Sure, I'll admit that at some level H1B is specifically designed to depress high-skill job wages. But it's also designed to brain drain other countries and make the US one of the most productive places on the planet.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @03:56PM (10 children)
Except for the little sticking point that H1Bs don't often become citizens. They take their work experience back to their home country. Net gain for the US: a few thousand dollars padding to corporate budgets.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday April 19 2017, @04:06PM (8 children)
In my career as a software engineer, I've known at least 3 H1B coworkers take and pass a citizenship test. And I'm an anti-social ass who avoids learning about his coworkers lives for the most part.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday April 19 2017, @04:17PM (7 children)
I should add that they originally came as H1-B workers, but were obviously not H1B when they passed the test, because our obtuse immigration rules would never allow that.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Wednesday April 19 2017, @04:53PM (6 children)
Yes, you need to go through the Green Card stage for a few years first.
Side note: If you came to do code/engineering work, taking the citizenship test is passing the test.
They give you a booklet of answers, don't require you to know all of them, and unless you have a terrible translator or memory, you're going to pass.
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Wednesday April 19 2017, @06:14PM (5 children)
Even more hillarious: taking the language test for someone born and raised in the UK.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @06:40PM (4 children)
Poor bastards, how could they ever pass? Colour? It's COLOR moron :)
(Score: 2) by Kromagv0 on Wednesday April 19 2017, @07:53PM (2 children)
It is usually lifts, lorries, flats, and hundreds and thousands that fuck up the British on that part of the test.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @09:07PM (1 child)
tannoy snog chips boot biscuits knickers knackered woohoo
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 20 2017, @02:02AM
Spam, spam, eggs, bacon, and spam,
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 20 2017, @01:15AM
and it's neighbourhood you twat!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @06:19PM
> Except for the little sticking point that H1Bs don't often become citizens.
Originally they did. But two things have happened over the last decade:
(1) The green card process has become so drawn-out that many give up or are forced to give up by circumstances like the expiration of their H1B visa
(2) Off-shorers have started gobbling up the lion-share of H1B visas so they can do on-site training as the first step to shipping the work off-shore
One idea, which I like but which will never happen because xenophobia, is that H1B should be replaced with a fast-track green card, like 2 years. The employers get to have their indentured servant for 2 years and then they are free to compete on equal footing with everyone else, and if they are that important to their employer they'll be paid premium wages not slave wages anyway.
Last night on PBS Newshour, one of the guests said that 80% of H1B holders are paid at a rate equal to entry-level wages. That's the real problem, regardless of whether they stay or not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @04:04PM (2 children)
Then she needs to go for a green card and not an H1B. H1B is for jobs where there are no American workers. There are plenty of American workers in 3D design.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying shes not welcome, but as far as im concerned shes going aboutstaying the wrong way.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday April 19 2017, @04:12PM (1 child)
How, exactly, do you think green cards are allocated? There's really just the FB and EB program.
I mean, I admit she could get one through marrying me, but, you know they mostly don't give them out to people who aren't currently living in the US, right? Like, one of the main green-card processes is employment-sponsored, wherein an employee on a temporary working visa, such as the H1B, applies for a permanent resident status through their employer who vouches for their long-term value to their company.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @06:05PM
You are missing the point. H1B is the wrong way to go, and no I do not support people trying to get that visa just so they can move to the US. Its not even good for the visa holder, you are pretty much an indentured servant. There are other ways to skin that cat.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday April 19 2017, @07:13PM (3 children)
It's not despised by the people who use them, of course.
My girlfriend is a 3d design artist working on a technical student education visa extension, and is currently trying to get an H1-B because she likes the culture of the US more than her home culture.
All that says is that she despises the program less than she despises her home country.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday April 19 2017, @07:53PM (2 children)
She doesn't despise her home country. She just thinks this one's culture suits her better.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @08:13PM (1 child)
She North Korean???
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @08:59PM
Lies! North Korea Best Korea!!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by AndyTheAbsurd on Wednesday April 19 2017, @07:45PM (1 child)
H-1B is widely derided and despised. Is there a reason for that?
Yes, there is a reason for it. The reason is that there are a handful of big IT "consultancy" firms that hire a lot of people - mostly but not exclusively Indian people - and bring them to the US on H1-B visas and peddle their services to various corporations, often at rates that undercut the wages of US citizens who could provide those services. And the people that are hired by the consultancy firms are not well vetted, so are frequently barely able to complete the tasks that they get hired to do. Add to that the thick, difficult-to-decipher accents of the recently arrived and the different idioms ("do the needful") of their cultures, making it difficult to communicate with them.
Basically, working with H1-B visa holders is often a swirling vortex of suck, because you have a hard time understanding them, they have a hard time understanding you, everything is taking longer than it should, and everybody is underpaid for the amount of work that's being attempted.
Should we all just shut up and suck it?
No. We should bother our congresscrittters until they're forced into rewriting the rules of the H1-B program to do what it was actually intended to do: only bring in foreign workers when there is no reasonable option for hiring someone already authorized to work in the US and capable of working on the high-tech project.
Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Thursday April 20 2017, @02:45AM
It's now marked flamebait so the thread may not be perfectly clear depending on how low you browse, but my question was a rhetorical quip to some now properly modded AC.
Anyway, I totally agree with your points.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @10:06PM (1 child)
The H-1B visa is supposed to be for "skill shortages", but it's quite often NOT used for that purpose. I've seen many instances personally. Because my anecdotes are common to others, I won't repeat them.
I didn't vote for Trump, but I'm glad he's attempting to reign in visa abuses. Give him kudos where due.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @11:30PM
How could you miss the shortage of sysadmins with 20 years of server 2016 experience? We were offering $35k for on-call 24/7 support but still had not takers. Let me tell you, InfoSys delivered! I mean come on... they are info AND sys! What could go wrong?