President Donald Trump signed an executive action on Friday to impose a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas — in an effort to curb what the administration says is overuse of the program.
The abuse of the H-1B program is something we do need to address. I doubt Taco is doing this for the right reasons, and I also fear he may be screwing with the non-industry H-1Bs, too.
I think we should get rid of H-1Bs for the tech industry and instead offer a fast-track to full citizenship for those that qualify, instead. Don’t tie them to companies and then see how many get hired by these companies that supposedly “cannot find that talent in the United States”. I call bullshit on that claim.
As others have pointed out, there are non-industry H-1Bs that are actually top talent with advanced degrees and needed for research. Maybe find a way to overhaul that as well, and offer them full citizenship that is very rapidly approved and done with.
This temporary indentured servant stuff has got to end, though.
I agree that it should be addressed, but I think the program still has its place. For example, I’m currently in the process of resolving an H-1B issue with a candidate with an accepted offer. That candidate was the best candidate for the role by a wide margin.
But I do think the program should be constrained. Allocations should be limited on a per-company basis as a ratio against total number of employees based in the US. In other words, for every H-1B hire, you need N regular employees.
Companies used to do the hard work of building a funnel from university and have backed off in recent years. Some of that is AI. But I think some of it is intentional manipulation with rolling layoffs to keep the employee market soft and diminish the negotiating power of current and prospective employees to zero. If the H-1B tap were to run dry, the employee market would gain strength and companies would have to invest once again in that university pipeline.
Not everyone who wants to work in the US has any interest in becoming a US citizen.
But if you want the industry H1-B program to operate as anything but a wage-suppression scheme, break the tie between the visa and the sponsoring company. If someone is granted an H1-B, make it for a defined period, and within that pariod, allow them to work for any US company.
“cannot find that talent in the United States”.
I was a hiring manager in the software industry. That claim is indeed bullshit in all but vanishingly rare cases. Employers like the H1-B holders because they are disempowered, underpaid and have no job security. There’s a whole cottage industry of middlemen who will give fake substantiation to the “no American can do the job” claim: for example, by requiring some vendor-specific skill set that happens to be taught at an Indian university, but not in the US, because US universities mostly avoid being trade schools. And because anyone with a strong CS background could pick it up in a week.
The abuse of the H-1B program is something we do need to address. I doubt Taco is doing this for the right reasons, and I also fear he may be screwing with the non-industry H-1Bs, too.
I think we should get rid of H-1Bs for the tech industry and instead offer a fast-track to full citizenship for those that qualify, instead. Don’t tie them to companies and then see how many get hired by these companies that supposedly “cannot find that talent in the United States”. I call bullshit on that claim.
As others have pointed out, there are non-industry H-1Bs that are actually top talent with advanced degrees and needed for research. Maybe find a way to overhaul that as well, and offer them full citizenship that is very rapidly approved and done with.
This temporary indentured servant stuff has got to end, though.
I agree that it should be addressed, but I think the program still has its place. For example, I’m currently in the process of resolving an H-1B issue with a candidate with an accepted offer. That candidate was the best candidate for the role by a wide margin.
But I do think the program should be constrained. Allocations should be limited on a per-company basis as a ratio against total number of employees based in the US. In other words, for every H-1B hire, you need N regular employees.
Companies used to do the hard work of building a funnel from university and have backed off in recent years. Some of that is AI. But I think some of it is intentional manipulation with rolling layoffs to keep the employee market soft and diminish the negotiating power of current and prospective employees to zero. If the H-1B tap were to run dry, the employee market would gain strength and companies would have to invest once again in that university pipeline.
H1-B visaholders are in danger living in the US
Not everyone who wants to work in the US has any interest in becoming a US citizen.
But if you want the industry H1-B program to operate as anything but a wage-suppression scheme, break the tie between the visa and the sponsoring company. If someone is granted an H1-B, make it for a defined period, and within that pariod, allow them to work for any US company.
I was a hiring manager in the software industry. That claim is indeed bullshit in all but vanishingly rare cases. Employers like the H1-B holders because they are disempowered, underpaid and have no job security. There’s a whole cottage industry of middlemen who will give fake substantiation to the “no American can do the job” claim: for example, by requiring some vendor-specific skill set that happens to be taught at an Indian university, but not in the US, because US universities mostly avoid being trade schools. And because anyone with a strong CS background could pick it up in a week.
Yeah they’re not great but this is worse, like this doesn’t help, it’s just a win for racists