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To see how this works, note that most Silicon Valley firms sponsor their H-1B workers, who hold a temporary visa, for U.S. permanent residency (green card) under the employment-based program in immigration law. EB sponsorship renders the workers de facto indentured servants; though they have the right to move to another employer, they do not dare do so, as it would mean starting the lengthy green card process all over again.

I guess people have caught on to the fact that H-1B visas became portable long ago and Matloff's "H-1B visa holders are indentured servants" was nonsense, so he had to come up with a new myth. First of all, when you get hired as an H-1B, your employer has no idea whether you will start the green card process, so they have to regard you as someone who can leave at any time, just like any American worker. Furthermore, since 2000, you can usually change employers even while your green card process is pending.

Some requirements to get a foreign worker's permit in India

The big stopping point is the salary - $25,000 minimum. India has a mean per-capita income of $616; the US is around $27,000. That level of minimum salary would be equivalent to about $1,000,000 in the US. Net result - it's a LOT harder to get employment in India as a foreigner than compared to getting employment in the US as a foreigner, just on a cost-of-employee basis.

I guess you didn't realize that an H1-B can be coverted to a green card.

I already answered to someone's post already. What you said is actually a misconception of H1-B visa that is very common for those who do not really know much about the visa. A H1-B holder CAN change his/her employer at any time while holding a visa without the need to let the current employer know. The only requirement is the new employer must file for a petition as if it is a new application but with certain exceptions -- http://www.immihelp.com/visas/...

Also, auctioning the visa will create another issue later on. If you think that big companies/corporations will not find a way to work around the system, you have too much trust on them. Besides, how would small companies (which is the main idea in TFA) compete with bigger companies/corporations for the visa price anyway?

Another issue with your idea is that it would result in most if not all of the H1-B holders would be in technology. Currently, the visa is for many different fields (if you want to check all of these fields, go to http://www.flcdatacenter.com/ ); however, the prevailing wages for technology field are at the top. In other words, there is no point having other job fields for other smaller companies to get a visa for their employees then.

TFA is actually talking about how big companies/corporations abuse the visa, NOT about what's wrong with the visa. Your trend of solution is trying to change the current visa method, but it is just a matter of time for big companies/corporations to find another way to abuse it again.

I am not suggesting any solution because I don't have time to think about it. The issue is not as simple as it seems to be, and any change will have more impact to smaller companies whose the visa is supposed to be for rather than for big companies/corporations.

... to work in the U.S. that isn't dependent on staying with a single employer. If someone else hires away your H1-B employee, that's your company's problem.

This part is a misinformation. Currently, this is already included in H1-B visa deal. A person who is holding H1-B visa CAN change employer; however, the new employer must file for another H1-B petition (or transfer) as if it is a new petition except the remaining visa time may stay the same or get extended -- http://www.immihelp.com/visas/...

Or better yet, untie H1Bs from a company, make it a 2 year visa, and let them go wherever they want. My guess is the companies will not be so hot on using H1B labor at that point.

A lot of people (including, obviously, you), don't understand that that's how H1B works already:

H1B Visa Transfer FAQ

"Of course they have no problem hiring brown foreigners for dirt-cheap labor,"

But they're not hiring dirt-cheap labour, in fact, they're paying well above the average. So that comment is obviously false, for example, Google:

http://www.immihelp.com/h1b-sp...

I'm not exactly sure what the point of your link is? A bitch fight between a bunch of bloggers that seems to have no relevance to silicon valley in general? One or two people with an axe to grind don't exactly act as proof of a problem. with the companies themselves.

"I don't think an incredibly skewed ethnic or gender makeup is concrete evidence of discrimination, but it's definitely an indicator that something is wrong."

Yes it is, and that was the point the person you originally responded to was making, that something is wrong, but not necessarily with the companies themselves, or even silicon valley. That it could be a fundamental issue with say, the education system for example which they have no real control over fixing.

No they can't because the Visa is issued by the corporation sponsors that person. Once that ends they have to go back. Even if they found another job that company would have to issue a Visa.

Which orifice did you pull that one out of? The visa is issued by the US government. If a H1B visa holder loses his or her job, he/she has some time (30 days, perhaps) to get another job before he or she must leave the USA. Furthermore, visa holders have some period of grace when transferring to a new job, during which time they can work for a new employer while the application for a new visa is processed. See this page for an explanation.

Right, because this person for example is imaginary?

http://www.immihelp.com/h1b-sp...

"They're nice hypotheticals though. You can come to any conclusion you want if you start with the right assumptions - like $200/250k jobs being the typical case for H-1B's"

Oh stop making stuff up putting words into my mouth. I made no such claim that $200k was typical, I merely used it as an example of the fact that a $200k hire can actually increase the average paid to American workers by creating jobs and that hiring such a person doesn't inherently guarantee a decrease in average salaries.

"(perhaps he could look at the actual statistics showing that H-1B's on average are paid less than equally skilled Americans)."

I'd like to see these, I've been looking for a while for H1-B stats and haven't found much of genuine academic value. I'm not disputing that this may well be the case. I've found individual lists that show the big tech name companies certainly hire far more developers at above national rates than below and by a notable margin. I'm not arguing that there aren't other companies that pay less, I'm merely arguing that immigration isn't always bad whilst also making the point that the companies who are often accused of using H1-B to drag down salaries like Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Google are most certainly not the companies that are doing that - again, maybe others are, but they are not. Search for Google, Microsoft, or whatever here and you'll see what I mean:

http://www.immihelp.com/h1b-sp...

"Lastly, for something like real AI gurus, there are the 'O' series visas, which nobody objects to."

Well, some people object to them, xenophobes, nationalists, that sort of person. The person I responded to was making the rather sweeping claim that all immigration inherently leads to a reduction in average salaries. You seem to be indirectly agreeing with me if you think there are some categories of immigration which should be allowed, so why the defensiveness? Perhaps there does need to be a better balance, but what's certain is that Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, and a bunch of the others aren't abusing H1-B, to drag salaries down, so let's find out who is if that's the case and focus on them in future instead if it's a problem that must be dealt with. It seems silly to bitch at companies who are actually using immigration to increase average salaries and to defend people who claim all immigration is bad no?

All I can go on is the lists of H1-B hires and so forth that are about on the internet e.g.:

http://www.immihelp.com/h1b-sp...

So sure, maybe you do work at one of the companies that does bring in cheap overseas hires, but my point remains that all the big boys are not doing this. The big tech companies are all paying well above the average. I can't find the site I used last time I looked into this as it had more uptodate data, this one only goes to 2010, but if you find such a site with more recent data you'll see it's the exact same pattern.

But what is this job that used to pay $80k - $100k exactly and has now dropped to $40k? It's certainly not software development because wages there have not declined - on the contrary, they've been increasing. Why are you certain the H1-B hires are the reason the average salary has dropped? Another thing I've pointed out previously is that the number of H1-B hires isn't even large enough to have much of an impact on any particular field - they're still a vast minority relative to the numbers in most fields in general.

It's easy to blame immigrants, because of that innate tribalism that so plagues humanity, but the reality is if wages are dropping in a field it almost certainly has absolutely nothing to do with them. They're still a small drop in the ocean, especially compared to other factors.

I see the same debates and complaints day in day out in the UK about immigrants and immigration, but when actual scientifically sound studies are done on the topic it always comes out that immigrants are of net economic benefit and make society richer. Even in the worst case there's only a handful of professions that suffer, whilst most improve greatly. The reality is professions like IT support are seeing declining wages not because of immigration, not in the slightest, but simply because it's become a less skilled profession with greater training available. You could cut immigration to zero tomorrow and it wouldn't change this fact.

She would not be granted an Indian work visa; she doesn't meet the eligibility requirements to be granted a visa. See:

http://www.immihelp.com/nri/indiavisa/employment-visa-india.html

So yes, national origin is an issue, even if their criteria is hiring someone of any national origin, so long as they work in an office in India, since she wouldn't be allowed by the Indian government to work there.

if you're Canadian, like me

By which you mean, not a Canadian citizen? Sorry, but if you show a Canadian passport, customs regulations specifically exempt Canadians, unless they require an I-94 form or have dual nationality and present a non-Canadian passport.

You obviously don't know the restrictions to H1B hires:
http://www.immihelp.com/visas/h1b/h1b-visa-requirements.html (site dedicated to migrants from India but it applies to everyone)

The rules are here. They're (very) restrictive. I'm not saying they work 100% right. But it's not a free for all to hire cheap labor either... at all.

FTA:

He said travelers would not be required to give any more information than is already requested on the paper immigration forms, which are being replaced.

I'm assuming the "paper immigration forms" are the green I-94 forms. Doing this online ahead of time just means that any potential problems can be found then (rather than in line at immigration, when you're waiting behind them and forgot to go to the bathroom first), and it saves DHS some money that they don't have to spend on data-entry.

Assuming a whole bunch of assumptions, I don't see any problems.

Something like this?

http://www.immihelp.com/visas/i-94w.html

Welllllllllllllll...

H1-B is not bringing in enough ppl to worry you.

So let's make a new work visa to bring in more workers
when the H1-B's fill up, we will call it the L-1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-1_visa

Also because of pesky limits on H1-B's, lets make sure
L1's HAVE NO LIMIT.

http://www.immihelp.com/visas/l1/faq.html

(see Q & A #6)

Just in case ppl figure out the shell game we will also create
dozens of other alphabet letter visas too !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_visas#Select_List_of_the_Various_Types_of_Visas

The United States Congress, destroying the middle class
the best they can with vigor !

This can be done by just allowing them to switch jobs, and allowing them to apply for Green Cards without sponsorship.

I refer you to Question C on the right hand page of form I-94W (for foreigners entering the US) on http://www.immihelp.com/visas/i-94w.html: "Are you now, or have you ever been, involved in espionage or sabotage; involved in terrorist activities; involved in genocide; or between 1933 and 1945, were you involved, in any way, to persecutions associated with Nazi Germany and its allies?" (Tick Yes or No)

You should (if you don't already) doubt the sanity of the DoJ, because thats their form for the allies of the US entering on holiday under the visa waiver scheme. I'd guess that you'd be asked the question by a person if you had to get a visa.

T'is easy, a checkbox system for people to fill in whether they are a sex offender or terrorist. That would work....

That's the way it works already for people visiting the US on non-immigrant visas, believe it or not (see questions B and C): Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver