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Ted Cruz Wants Minimum H-1B Wage of $110,000 (computerworld.com)
dcblogs writes: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, has morphed from a vocal supporter of the H-1B program to a leading critic of it. He has done so in a new H-1B reform bill (PDF) that sets a minimum wage of $110,000 for H-1B workers. By raising the cost of temporary visa workers, Cruz is hoping to discourage their use. Cruz also wants to eliminate Optional Practical Training Program (OPT). The co-sponsor of this bill, The American Jobs First Act of 2015, is U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who called the OPT program "a backdoor method for replacing American workers."
That's still poverty in Silicon Valley
I still say Ted Cruz is actually Al Lewis from The Munsters.
Good luck with that.
No way will corporations and the lobbying of the chamber of commerce allow this intrusion of socialism to harm profits! Every .com and software company in existence will freak out and open their wallets in unifying opposition!
I guess it shows the goverment hasn't worked for it's people in the US for a long time now. This is a show for votes as no way this will pass.
http://saveie6.com/
If a company truly needs expertise that just simply cannot be found in the US, then a six figure salary is probably a bargain. Of course, this will never pass. I can dream, though.
and make 80 hours a week cost $150K+
also needs COL added as well.
Companies are going to do whatever makes the most money. The H1-B program gets them cheap labor in the US. Take away cheap labor, jobs will simply move offshore. If the labor is at least based in the US, those workers are still participating in the US economy.
It's bad enough that you give my job to some foreign worker, but now your going to pay them twice as much as you were paying me?
You SUCK!
Ted Cruz used to be the Republican candidate who I considered the most arrogant, and most annoying to listen to (he started running for president years ago!).
Sometimes things change.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
I don't like Ted Cruz. I don't like that he has double-standards. I think he's a hypocrite. And I don't like the platform he has chosen to run on.
But a good idea is a good idea. And when someone we disagree with shares a good idea, we should unite behind it, rather than censor it because of its source. If we don't, we just divide this nation further.
the mouse does not want this and if you want that free VIP trip for your family we need an copyright extension and no $15 HR min wage.
First "loophole" I could think of off the top of my head would be: "Sure we'll pay them $110K". Oh, those jobs include no paid health benefits, no vacation, no sick leave. That could drop the "cost" of the employee down to someone making $70K.
While that sounds bad at first, it wouldn't really be horrible, heck I might even be interested in having all the cash my employer was willing to put out and leave it up to me to spend it. For couples where the other spouse has a good deal on insurance, it might be nice to have the money rather than overlapping policies.
I tend to agree in theory BUT the big corps will just take the H1B and a bunch of other jobs and move them elsewhere. They don't give a crap.
Well-intentioned things like this and (some) tariffs sound like a good idea but have a tendency to not work out as intended. I wish there was an easy solution to this erosion of jobs/income.
Chance favors the prepared mind.
Perfect is the enemy of good.
How about a $15/hr minimum wage for actual citizens?
Add $80,000 to that number for any H1B in California or New York City.
Honestly, H1B is NOT for cheap labor, it 's for highly skilled professionals that you cant find anywhere else. Force the scumbag CEO's to pay for them.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
...so it must be racist and evil.
Most H1B jobs are in computer programming and hardware design; no PII is involved. Your proposal would have essentially zero effect.
American government ostensibly works for the American people, only the American people, and not any other country's people. (Yes, "ostensibly" is a big word, but it's an important one. Go look it up.)
What has been happening is that American companies, formerly hiring American people, and carrying out operations within the sovereign borders of America (the "U.S. of", at least) have been hiring non-American workers. This, by itself, is not a bad thing. But these companies have been using immigration laws to turn those non-American workers into indentured servants. "Work," they say, in essence, "or we'll have you deported back to your foreign hellhole. And no, you may not have a pay raise."
So a native worker can ask for $100k salary until he's blue in the face, but the job will always go to an H1B worker that has a Hobson's choice of either working for $60k or getting deported.
What Ted Cruz just did was throw down the legislative gauntlet, advocating for a law that will castrate the either/or choice that companies are forcing upon H1B workers, and free those H1B workers from indentured servitude. It also makes a local American worker a much more viable candidate, since they can now be hired for less than an H1B.
Personally, I find Ted Cruz to be an unhinged nutcase with decent comedic value in most instances. But on this issue, he cut to the heart of the matter and made a sensible proposal. That said, it won't go anywhere because too many people profit from the status quo.
Now index it for cost of living and include automatic inflation adjustments and we've got something to talk about.
I just want a company officer to sign off, under penalty of perjury, on the supposed prevailing pay for the position they are seeking to fill. Right now the company gets to essentially make up a number, which no one checks and carries no penalty if anyone were to find out that they massively lowballed it. Put a company officer on the hook for it and suddenly those wages are going to jump up to a competitive level. Putting an artificial floor on the pay for visa holders is a nicely simple step that is hard to evade, but I'd really rather we just force the companies to pay the real wage for the job or have someone high ranking head to jail. There might genuinely be a job at a lower pay level that we simply can't get enough qualified Americans to fill. I don't know what it might be, but I don't want to close the door, I just want to cut back on the abuses.
You're just jealous 'cuz the voices talk to *me*
The stopped clock is right on something.
And John Kerry is Herman Munster. Illuminati at work?
Newt's "ice queen" wife doesn't directly match any of the characters, but she's gotta be a relative. (And Newt talks like a muppet, something's going on.)
Table-ized A.I.
Libertarians don't call for government enforcement of minimum compensation stipulations, especially not for specific priviledged groups over others.
Yea, and kill half of the population of the USA, yea that's going to help... Real bright idea there AC..
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
It is surprising how many middle aged obsolete technology professionals you will find if you care to visit your local job career transition networking meetings. It not always that the people don't want to learn a new skill set, but more times than not, its a matter of cost of training. Its hard to fork down money for a training program if you are not working. Moreover, there is another problem in that people are reluctant to lay down cash on a skill set if they are unsure that it will be used in two years. I remember learning COM & OLE. I thought that it was hot shit. Well, it was more worthless than Elvis paraphernalia in another two years. Moreover, most head hunters or corporations will not want you if you only have a training program or a homemade portfolio (or open-source project). Its hard enough selling yourself to upper management if you have the skill set, but are an outsider without business contacts. There is an strong and established good old boys network for most upper end jobs. About the only way to circumvent it is if you know something that some business owner cannot find something thought his connections. I worked in finance, and it is ironic how many people knew each other from early childhood.
On the other end of the age spectrum, I have met many a Ph. D. s in fields that had a glut of people, e.g. medical sciences or in fields that do not have a high demand, Philosophy, Mathematics, Literature, or Oceanography. Most of these former students had unrealistic expectations of job prospects or believed that somehow they would be the one to overcome the odds and land a professorship. After about a two year job search, most come to the realization that they should have became a "short order chef: which has better career prospects. Being broke and destitute, they are looking to retool to become a programmer or bank administrator or "tech writer" and have the mental aptitude to learn what is necessary.
Better yet, instead of an artificial minimum wage, have them pay the wages of the displaced worker, PLUS the cost it would take to retrain the displaced worker PLUS the cost of vetting H-1B workers by the government.
Then, a business can determine if there truly are no qualified works, is it in their best interest to import labor or train their existing labor.
Of course businesses, particularly IT ones, will complain that if they train or retrain workers, the workers will just leave and they will still be out the money. The answer to that is simple -- quit treating your workers like shit!
Didn't Trump say he was going to fire any CEO of a company that hires H1-B workers... maybe not... but sounds like something he'd say...
"Sometimes things change."
Yes, but not politicians.
Sure they do. They flip-flop all the time!
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Sometimes things change.
Change to what???
Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn from time to time.
It sounds to me like the Distinguished Gentleman from Texas should continue to serve as a Senator, where as an idea-man his ideas can be presented and debated, and the good ones considered for real implementation, and where bad ones could be decided against.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
dangerously close to handing the next presidency over to Bernie
Bernie Sanders wants to raise wages of H-1B workers - Nov 25, 2015
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wants to reform the H-1B program, in part, by "substantially" raising prevailing wages.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
On the upside, it would make it easier to get a parking place.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Changed.....he is now the second-most annoying presidential candidate.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
The bill also calls for:
that within 730 daysâ"two yearsâ"of âoean employee strike, an employer lockout, layoffs, furloughs, or other types of involuntary employee terminations other than for-cause dismissals,â a company cannot bring aboard any H-1B labor
I think this is an even bigger deal than the $110k provision.
Just use the top rate for technical people in the federal government. GS 13 Step 10. That way locality and cost of living increases are built in.
http://www.federaljobs.net/pay...
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
Just get everyone to agree on the precise boundary of what "free trade" is. Can you buy animals? Can you buy water rights? Can you own ideas? Writing? People? What about land? What if I just have enough guns?
Your notions of property rights might seem obvious to you, but not everyone agrees with you. We, as a community, must come to a consensus. One man's free trade is another man's anarchy, and another's totalitarianism. Can't tell if I'm responding to sarcasm or not.
Well, to be fair, neither Cruz or Trump are "establishment" republicans. In fact, most of the top prospective nominees on the republican side are pretty much outsider, non-establishment types. If you are an establishment republican, you are running no higher than about 5th in the polls... In my opinion, this fact is way over looked by most of the media and the significance of this way under played.
However, it is clear that candidates like Trump, Carson and Cruz are the ones with the best chance for the nomination which will make this presidential cycle very interesting indeed given the democrat's almost certainly nominating Hillary. But I'm getting the impression that what's really going to happen is that Trump will have a LOT of support going into the convention, but it will not be the majority by a long shot. There will be a brokered deal which will put someone a bit more establishment in the race than Trump. At that point, everything will hinge on what Trump does. If he goes independent, Hillary wins comfortably. If Trump backs down and supports the nominee, Hillary won't know what hit her in the electoral college... On the other hand, if Trump manages to broker a deal and becomes the nominee, Hillary will be behind most of the way but have a good chance if they come up with a good October surprise..
So what we will likely have is a race between the quintessential "Establishment" candidate on the left with Hillary and a anti-establishment like candidate on the right. This in a time where the majority is disapproving of the current establishment administration. Remember, there is a yearning in the public towards the non-establishment types these days, and that will draw voters away from what will clearly be the establishment candidate Hillary.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
But give glasses to a politician and they still can't find their own nuts.
I would prefer a substantial Federal tax (perhaps 25% of the reported W-2 income?) paid by the H-1B employer and removal of H-1B caps.
Retain the prevailing wage requirement, but when computing general prevailing wages, include the H-1B tax the employers pay in the prevailing wage calculation for H-1B workers in general (but not in the wage of the specific H-1B position that is being evaluated).
Just for show, also retain the 'must try to hire an American first' requirement - but that's really a joke as we all know the 'on paper' qualifications of a developer mean almost nothing as some of the worst performers have some of the best looking resumes so enforcement is impossible without hamstringing employers and American companies.
The Federal government would first use the taxes so raised to sharpen enforcement of the provisions of the H-1B program (esp. as it relates to 'prevailing wage'), the rest could go into the Social Security Trust Fund to prop that up.
This would go a long way towards making sure that the employers actually NEED to hire foreign workers and make it much harder to game 'prevailing wage' by making the out of pocket cost to the employer significantly higher for H-1B workers.
In addition, by including the employer tax when computing prevailing wage and then requiring that the next H-1B worker get that higher wage it creates a snowball effect that discourages frivolous use of H-1Bs even more. One effect would be to drive the 'prevailing wage' for H-1B computations higher and higher as a larger percentage of comparable positions were filled by H-1B holders. Since the employer actually has to pay the H-1B holder the 'adjusted' prevailing wage, they would be making more than American workers overall which would make the H-1B option even less attractive AND would cause American workers to demand raises if they were, in fact, contributing as much. Rinse and repeat. To avoid a runaway situation which could have bad consequences (such as American workers abandoning the field entirely), there would probably need to be some sort of brake on this effect such as capping the 'prevailing wage adjustment' to 25% of the base prevailing wage.
Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading
"The Republican Guy, champion of the people," no one ever said. EVER. He's not going to say something like this unless he's sure it's going nowhere or he's desperate for any coverage at all in the face of the overwhelming noise emanating from The Trump Hole.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Make it easier for H1-B visa's to transfer and a generous grace period, that way good talent can stay and compete in the job market. Make it easy to do business in the U.S., just take away the ability to hold labor hostage to a visa.
So since he's not arrogant and annoying anymore, are you considering him? He's given some pretty good defenses of the 1st amendment.
$110k is still below the market rate for most STEM fields, software engineering for sure, so how does he expect this to have any kind of impact???
Just get everyone to agree on the precise boundary of what "free trade" is. Can you buy animals? Can you buy water rights? Can you own ideas? Writing? People? What about land? What if I just have enough guns?
Your notions of property rights might seem obvious to you, but not everyone agrees with you. We, as a community, must come to a consensus. One man's free trade is another man's anarchy, and another's totalitarianism.
^ Why did you post AC? That is spot on the money.
Lets see of Disney fires 250 more employees and replaces them with H1B's if each is going to cost the $110,000 a year! Bet they don't, and that's what this is trying to stop. I've seen news reports that say that _all_ the job gains in the USA since the year 2000 are amongst only immigrants of one flavor or another - H1B's, illegals, legals, etc. Its a war on prosperity, basically, with the middle class wages being forced closer and closer to poverty in every occupation.
This isn't about "running the economy".
H1B was intended to be a way for companies to bypass the normal immigration system to bring in star talent, people with unique skills or knowledge. It was intended to bring Linus into the country, for example. While it is still occasionally used that way, it is now mostly a way for companies to replace high paid American workers with low paid foreign workers, like Disney replacing their IT staff (and making them train their H1B replacements).
Cruz isn't proposing this because he thinks it'll be better for the economy, he's proposing this because he thinks it'll be better for the nation, and for the country. Polls suggest that a large majority of Americans agree with him.
For people that want to "run the economy", perhaps look across the aisle at the people that literally think that you are too stupid to purchase the medical coverage that meets your needs.
See that "Preview" button?
He's just another wanna-be Republican nigger that want's nothing more than to destroy the US.
Who cares if he's a turd. This is the only good news on the H1-B front that I've heard.. maybe ever.
So since he's not arrogant and annoying anymore, are you considering him?
He's still arrogant and annoying. I was trying to point out that other candidates have come along who are more annoying. As for considering him, I've already resigned myself to the fact that we're going to have a lousy president next term, and I'm glad that the US system has shown itself resilient enough to survive that.
He's given some pretty good defenses of the 1st amendment.
It's really sad that's even needed.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
I don't like his evangelical cadence. But I'm pretty sure he has an audiographic memory, and puts together an argument very coherently.
Ted Cruz used to be the Republican candidate who I considered the most arrogant, and most annoying to listen to (he started running for president years ago!). Sometimes things change.
No, I still think Cruz is annoying, arrogant, etc. etc... but on this one particular issue he is right and has put forward a good proposal.
We really need to get past partisan politics where whole issues get misappropriated by political parties. People are not stereotypes and ideas should matter more than the color of their party.
Why should an employee strike start a 'no H-1B' period? Employee strikes are voluntary on the part of the employee. Employees could just declare a 60 second strike every year on New Year's eve and continually renew the 'no H-1B' period.
As well, any such general rule must require that the restriction only apply to hiring H1-Bs for the same/equivalent job at the same general location. If demand for GE jet engines declines and they have to close one of their jet engine plants and lay off janitors, there's no logical reason that should prevent GE from using H-1B visas to hire needed foreign PhDs to improve image processing algorithms in their healthcare division 2,000 miles away.
Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading
Unfortunately, another candidate has arisen who is more arrogant and insufferable. I didn't think it could happen.
Yeah, who would've thought we'd have another Clinton in the ring.
What should be done instead is to create legislation mandating that the unemployment rate for the industry being hired for is below a set level before they can import workers on the H1-B program, *and* they have to pay the prevailing wage. Saying the talent doesn't exist in the U.S. is utter and complete bullshit, and if I had my way what corporations do to U.S. citizens with the H1-B program would be considered treason. It has nothing to do with 'no local talent', it has to do with 'we don't want to PAY for local talent'. Meanwhile the middle class in this country is disappearing.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Why can't the lawmakers come up with $ Amounts based on formulas ? $110K will be rendered crap with the current level of wage inflation.
It's a useless bone he's throwing to the American Labor movement. Ignoring the fact that we don't really enforce any of these rules in the first place the problem isn't wages, it's training and benefits. Even at $110k/year an H1-B is still cheaper because they have few benefits and they're trained in third world countries instead of expensive colleges. They're also trained for very, very specific tasks. Then there's the leverage employeers can bring to bear to make them work 60-80/hr weeks.
There's a reason you don't like Cruz. He's two faced. This is just another example. Want someone who'll do something to curtail cheap import labor for real? Vote Bernie.
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... see and you all said that Ted Cruz is against minimum wage ...
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
because Americans have a ton of benefits H1-Bs don't have and because Americans Expect to work 40, maybe 50 hours a week while the H1-Bs routinely put in 60+. More importantly H1-Bs come pre-trained in whatever specialty skill set you want. You don't spend a dime on training when you hire them, and if their skills become obsolete you just replace them and move on. Nobody clamors for them to be retrained like we did with the mine workers. You just ship 'em back home. Problem solved.
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Sometime things change...
Like for example, the other candidates got even more grossly arrogant and annoying, making him look better by comparison? Sad what's become of the GOP, I used to like them for their ideas on fiscal conservativism, before the Tea Party turned them into the party of choice for the batshit insane.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
You don't actually believe they're doing this out of the kindness of their hearts do you? This is a meaningless gesture that at best will have no noticeable impact and at worst go unenforced like the rest of the restrictions on the H1-B program. H1-Bs are better than Americans because they're already trained and they were trained on the cheap. They're also better because you can threaten them with deportation and they have no benefits. A bump in pay changes nothing. But it does give Mr Cruz a nice talking point for his presidential run.
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Hard to find anything with both your hands in someone else's pockets...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
and puts together an argument very coherently.
If you have an example of that, I'd love to see it (especially if you have a transcript). :(
I think he got beat down pretty badly here. He was trying to argue on one very narrow aspect of the law, which I think would fail in court (and indeed, he lost the case he did argue before the supreme court). (also, sorry, I don't have a transcript
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
if they could move the jobs offshore they would have. It's still _way_ cheaper to run the jobs out of India. There are other reasons they want the laborers in America; like keeping everyone working on the same time zones and being able to manage employees (yes, for all the Dilbert jokes that just flooded into your mind Management does serve a purpose). Your statement is demonstrably false with even a little bit of care and effort. Please stop spreading that nonsense.
And even if we lived in a bizarro universe where you were right I say let 'em go. America is a country rich in natural resources and good land. If they want to stop employing Americans they can stop being Americans, and forget their land and property. They can leave, but they don't get to take the ball. It's not theirs.
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Unfortunately, another candidate has arisen who is more arrogant and insufferable. I didn't think it could happen.
Yeah, who would've thought we'd have another Clinton in the ring.
There is another candidate that Trumps both Clinton and and Cruz on arrogance and insufferability!
I've heard stories of H1-B employees having to give a major chunk of their income to the companies that found them the job. (a sort of 'finder's fee' to whatever HR company they went through back in their home country)
One solution might be that there be a 'tax' on H1-B employees, so that 20% or so of the wages 'paid' to the employee are sent to some sort of a fund to train up people in the field that they're bringing people in for.
And on the 'prevailing wage' ... the basic loophole is that there's an estimate of what it costs to hire people in different jobs based on the person's experience. They're using the Level I (low experience) numbers as the 'prevailing wage', but if you only needed someone with little experience, you could get someone off the street and train them. They should have to pay at a minimum the 75% percentile mark for a given field for an H1-B.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
if the businesses that hire H1-Bs ever had strikes... Tech workers are completely un-Unionized. That just leaves you with layoffs as the blocking condition, but I could see the bill defining "layoffs" rather liberally. Most tech companies make heavy use of "contractors" that are really full time employees without health or unemployment benefits. Companies could just use normal attrition to get rid of proper hires, replace them with phony-baloney contractors and then use that fake contract terms to get out of the "layoff" provision. Book it, done.
No, the H1-B program needs to die. It's too corrupt and too broken to save.
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because they'll just cut the corporation's taxes somewhere else (or give them an "incentive" somewhere) to offset. Kill the H1-B program. It's too corrupt. If companies want foreign labor they can leave America. America obviously has something they want or they wouldn't be fighting to bring in H1-Bs.
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this is good press. That's all this is. It has no real teeth. Go look up Bernie Sanders if you want to see someone who a) wants to stop H1-B abuses and b) is completely unelectable as a result ( :( )
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Couldn't the title of this story be "Ted Cruz wants to raise minimum wage for immigrant workers"?
This is the talk that won me over. For now at least. Sorry for the lazy link https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
They are politicians, so incompetent is a given...
I am a H1-B holder and as far as I know I pay tax exactly the same as everyone else.
Agreed, he is a really scary douchebag (not as scary as a few of the other candidates, but that's another story). But even being a ridiculous douchebag, it is still possible for him to do some things right. This is a step in the right direction, even though it will most likely go nowhere. It's a sad, sad day when Cruz starts to look like the lesser of multiple evils... (I still predict a Bush/Clinton general election, the surprises will come from the VP picks. Trump might manage to broker himself a VP slot -- then we all pray that nobody shoots Bush!)
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I'm surprised I had to read down this far to find the circumstantial ad hominem.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
You're completely wrong. H1B visa holders do pay federal taxes just the same as permanent residents and citizens.
Great book "Meritocracy Myth" shows that most people get their jobs through connections or blind luck, but don't acknowledge that or even recognize it.
Yet ask them why they are successful, and they will tell you it's because they're talented and awesome. Not because they used to go to school with the guy, and really, anyone could do their job.
That's true of most jobs
Even doctors take interns based on connections. Want to be a cardiologist? It helps if daddy is one, or one is a family friend. Because if you can't get a cardiologist willing to intern you, you'll go into a less desirable (less well paying) specialty.
As for getting into medical school: It's a crap shoot. Enrollment staff at one medical school chose applicants like this: "One for the pile, and and one in the bin. One for the pile, and and one in the bin." http://www.amazon.com/Meritocr...
But give glasses to a politician and they still can't find their own nuts.
Larry Craig Republican senator from Minnesota has a good idea where his are.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Trump, Carlson, and Sanders all have one thing in common: none of them stand any chance of actually getting elected. Polls are bullshit, especially this far ahead of the game. I predicted a Bush/Clinton contest several months ago, and I'm sticking with that prediction, but a lot could happen in the next year to make that not happen too. It does look like both are keeping a really low profile while more arrogant candidates fight among themselves, might turn out to be a good long term strategy, despite both of them having a complete lack of charisma.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
You're figures are fine except that Hr1B visa holders DO NOT pay
federal income tax (I'm not sure of the particulars, but it's true).
So their effective salary is significantly higher than the stated values.
CAP === 'accord'
I have no idea where you get your information, but H1B visa holder are required to pay all federal, state, local taxes including FICA (Social Security) and Medicare.
The only exception I am aware of is that if you by some circumstances become a non-resident-alien of the US for part of the year (hired mid-year, or terminated mid-year), you can dual-status and only pay US taxes on your US based income and a flat 30% on non-US connected income (normally you have to pay US taxes on your worldwide income although you can claim an exemption for taxes you paid to another country).
Your confusion might be that those on OPT (practical training) temporary visas which often are used by college graduates before they get H1Bs are exempt from FICA and medicare, but are still not exempt from other state and federal income taxes. OPT used to be a max of 1 year, but now it is 2 years.
FYI, this is where I explain my comment in more detail.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
I'm sick to death of these assholes who believe they can "run the economy". NOBODY knows enough to produce better results than free trade.
-jcr
Free trade will seek out a local maximum of *PROFITS*. That's not the same as better long-term profits, nor even the same as better long-term results. See Enron.
You can't have free trade without open borders. If this is what you are calling for, then I agree.
FYI, this is where I explain my comment in more detail.
Yeah, I saw that one as well. Not that he's likely to get the nomination, but I for one am tired of religious nuts getting good American men and women killed for their end of of the world lust. His support os the huge increase isn't actually support. He just wants to kill the bill.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Then you havent been paying attention to what that hag has been doing for the past couple years. Trump is an ass but he is being upfront with his assholeness. Hillary is not. I support and would vote for Hillary...for prison.
It's a sad band aid to a problem that is caused by impinging on the workers freedom to leave.
And I'm pretty sure that truly free trade would be a damn nightmare.
But a good chunk of the free trade is a damn fine answer.
His dad is Cuban.
Everyone has been paying attention to Hillary
At the moment, a choice between her and any of the "R" frontrunners is a walkaway "Give the Keys to Hillary" contest.
But some people like making a statement to scare the establishment
Kind of like the Nader voters in 2000 who made Florida competitive enough to steal.
God told him it was the right thing to do after his father got into the country. Besides, his father was Cuban which means he was feeing from bad guys (Castro) unlike Mexicans, who are fleeing from bad guys who are not Castro, and Syrians, who are fleeing from Satan and must be kept out. Also, Cruz was born in Canada, which is not Mexico or Syria. He only recently gave up his Canadian citizenship.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Free trade will seek out a local maximum of *PROFITS*.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
See Enron.
Enron was brought down by the market despite the efforts of their political cronies to prop them up.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
You do understand as Solicitor General of the state of Texas he had *ZERO* choice on the positions he argued in support of, right? His positions were staked out by others, then he was forced to argue them. Also, I think he argued *nine* cases before SCOTUS, not one: http://www.nationaljournal.com...
Nice article.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Congratulations.
If you're sharing a 1 bedroom apartment with 4 other people - we're concerned that we don't want to be bringing our standard of living down to that level just to compete with immigrant labor.
Except... those companies already pay six-digit salaries. It's not the tech giants who would be hurt by this, it's the companies where typical wages are in the mid-to-upper 5 digits and cost of living is half (or less) what it is on the coast. The giants would actually benefit, here; there'd be less competition for the visa workers.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
You assume he would take the job, if offered.
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
So the body shops peddling java programmers by the pound will charge $109.9k while still passing along half or less to the poor sap doing the "work".
And they'll continue rotating folks over for "training" every few months.
*yawn*
That's not what we're talking about silly H1-B.
What we're talking about, is that the jobs us Americans are working, for $75,000 would pay over $100,000. Except rather than pay what the market demands, the companies import workers on H1B visas. They claim, they can't find the talent. Utter BS, often they replaced trained with untrained workers, and have the trained workers train their replacements.
But you see, if you can hire imported workers for $60K-$70K, then you never have to pay the market value. And you can force Americans into lower pay. It's basic economics of supply and demand.
And GUESS WHY that pay average is around $60K-$70K, because that was the $110K of yesteryear. That was the amount that if the salary exceeded, they never get investigated for wage sinking. And guess what, $60K in 1990 when H1B visas went into effect, if adjusted for inflation would now be $110K. So all Ted Cruz is asking for is the originally minimum salary cap being put back in effect. All laws passed should be inflation adjusted, if so, then it would already be $110K
ACTUALLY, YOU'RE ALL WRONG. It depends on whether they are considered resident or non-resident aliens.
But they can call for a government program to be reduced and limited in it's quantity of use. ;-)
How about letting market decide rather than big government prescribing exact dollar amounts? Currently, H1B visas immediately run out of quota, and most are snatched by consulting companies like Infosys rather than individuals directly.
Set quota to whatever is desired and grant visa to employees who receive the highest salaries. Americans benefit because bidding drives wages up. Immigrants benefit because anyone can come in with good enough job offer rather than being shut off by quota running out. Plus, tax revenues go up proportionally to salary (and keeping track of tax returns is a great way to detect cheating).
You have not interviewed on behalf a tech company lately. Ask a dozen candidates some rudimentary coding question like finding top N numbers from a large list and cry. Job requirements are total bullshit, no self respecting recruiter makes them a primary criteria. People who give salary range upfront in a job posting are idiots. Which helps explain why those positions are still open.
I have no idea where you get your information, but H1B visa holder are required to pay all federal, state, local taxes including FICA (Social Security) and Medicare.
I hear there ARE some entitlements that they don't get and for which they (or the employer) don't pay. (I think it's state unemployment insurance in some states.)
IMHO if/when such exist, the employer should be required to directly pay them the fee he would otherwise have paid the government, in addition to the mandated minimum wage/salary.
(That's actually fair, too: They can use the extra money to buy, or otherwise do something to try to replace, whatever the entitlement they don't get would have been.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
That's still poverty in Silicon Valley
$110k is a bit low for Silicon Valley.
On the other hand, my experience trying to get work out of a few H1Bs and offshore employees has been that they are substantially (like sometimes a factor of several) less productive than typical citizen workers. If this is a general trend, rather than just the individuals I happen to have experience with, $110k is close enough that the economic advantage would still flip to the native (and maybe the fully naturalized) workers.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
If you've lived in the US for more than 6 months during the previous calendar year, you owe taxes to uncle Sam. Even if you're here on an H1B visa. A H1B visa holder comes to US for a multi-year stint (then usually "graduates" to a GC), therefore it's almost certain that he/she is going to pay federal taxes and, depending on the local laws, state taxes too.
Actually, if he really wanted to get rid of them he would propose a bill to end the program, right?
The program was SUPPOSED to bring in a handful of rare talents. It was corrupted to bring in wholesale replacements for native white-collar workers (just as illegal immigration brings in wholesale replacements for blue-collar workers, breaking unions and depressing blue-collar wages).
Putting a realistic floor on the H1B salaries, and prioritizing the visas so they go to the highest-paid guest workers first, should bring the corrupt gaming of the system to a screeching halt while still serving the original purpose for the few special talents that ARE hard enough to get that they can command the high price.
(And I say that as someone who IS a high-priced native talent and would still face competition from H1Bs at that price floor. I believe I can hold my own, even in the estimation of fad-driven pointy-haired-bosses, against people at and above that price range, but not against the (IMHO incorrect) perception that three or more lesser talents might provide more value for the same bucks.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
There is a quota of 80,000 H1Bs per year. This is currently filled randomly, according to a lottery. Why not simply rank the applicants by their salary, from highest first, and give an H1B to the top 80,000 salaries?
Solves two problems, win-win:
- makes sure that only the most critical employees enter
- means that those critical employees can enter easily, without having to do endless lotteries...
I'm not sure that Libertarians want a completely open border, as it would lead to tens of millions of immediate entrants, with hundreds of millions soon after, eventually making the US the most populous nation on the planet.
Some libertarians (including Ron Paul, for example), recognize that, desirable as they believe open borders might be, they have to wait until some other things are fixed.
This is why I call myself a "law-n-order minarchist". You can't just repeal laws. You have to do it in the right ORDER, or you can break things even worse.
Example: Open borders have to happen AFTER entitlement reform.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
A man who once kept Adolf Hitler's books by his bedside, perhaps?
H1Bs aren't here so that a tech company can pay them less than an American engineer. They are here because tech companies can't find any fucking qualified American engineers. Just go talk to your HR department. Go talk to admissions of any university.
This would actually flip our organizations entire wage scale upside down, and pretty much cause a good 50-75% increase in the IT budget as a whole until the organization is able to adjust. And you know what... I really like the idea... it needs to adjust for inflation though.
It is ridiculous in this day and age that I had to essentially go work for an H1B company, get paid an H1B salary (as an American), and then struggle for a couple years to become "internal" IT to the company I was contracted for, and now I'm technically not supposed to be allowed to code any more because of it, which is even more ridiculous, just because it looks cheaper on paper to outsource the work.
Non sequitur: Your facts are uncoordinated.
There will never be an indictment. First, the law at the time probably either didn't make what she is accused of actually a crime, and second, the political witch hunt's lack of relative success has probably ironically provided her with a degree of immunity. Had those investigating not scraped the bottom of the barrel to the point they drew wood shavings it might be different, but the way this has been handled has made it such a non-story that nothing will ever come of it.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
This should be a percentage above the current industry rate this way the rate will adjust accordingly with the growth of the economy. Since the skills that are being asked for are so scarce in the country it should be worth quite a lot more than current industry rate.
What would an acceptable value be for these hard to find skills that no one in the US possesses?
Maybe we should ask Disney or all the other companies that are currently abusing this visa type.
That is why companies hire foreign workers and have their US workers train them before they fire the US workers.
yeah because vanity fair is a reliable source
His proposal states that the MINIMUM WAGE of the H1B worker should be $110k. That would eliminate any entry and even mid level H1B workers. Actually, what it would really do is move that work offshore.
It was left ambiguous on purpose.....
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
I think I'd open an office in another country if that happened. Or possibly hire a contractor firm to do that for me so I didn't have to manage a building or pay my staff anything near the US minimum wage.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I hear there ARE some entitlements that they don't get and for which they (or the employer) don't pay. (I think it's state unemployment insurance in some states.)
IMHO if/when such exist, the employer should be required to directly pay them the fee he would otherwise have paid the government, in addition to the mandated minimum wage/salary.
(That's actually fair, too: They can use the extra money to buy, or otherwise do something to try to replace, whatever the entitlement they don't get would have been.)
The IRS is very clear that H1b pay all federal taxes including federal unemployment. I'm not familiar with the laws in each state, but at least in CA, H1b also pay state UI and disablity insurance (and are eligible to collect benefits). Of course if you are unemployed as an H1b, you will have an immediate immigration problem (technically have 60 days to leave), but you are eligible to collect for those 60 days (i.e., long as your visa is valid) as you have paid into the system.
However, there are a bunch of complications in the H1b tax situation that lead to the misconception H1b visa holders taking US jobs are somehow federal tax exempt.
The biggest one is that the US has tax treaty with many countries that allow citizens to work in the US exempt some of their income from US taxes and only pay taxes on that income in their home jurisdiction. However nearly all current US tax treaties contain a so-called "savings clause" that removes this exemption for those on visas that make them resident aliens (like H1b) and only allows them to non-resident aliens (like F1, J1, OPT). So, these exemptions might partially apply in the first year or so that a H1b visa holder is working in the US, but is not applicable after becoming a resident alien.
For the cases that affect most /.-ers (e.g., H1b W2 wage earners in the IT/engineering world), there really aren't any significant exemptions in any tax-treaty country after becoming a full year resident alien on an H1b. To be more specific, most of the income exempt-able by treaties is limited to stuff like scholarships/fellowships, foreign pensions, income from personal services (e.g., maid, nurses, personal assistant, coaches, agents), income received by researchers/teachers, reporters/journalists, income paid in diplomatic service (e.g., embassies, united nations), some musicians, entertainers and athletes, and international travel income (e.g., ship/air transport workers). Not things that would affects most /.-ers working in tech and most of them have pretty low limits (in time and/or $ amount), in any case.
This further muddied by the fact that in subsequent years, depending on the country, a H1b holder might still continue to owe taxes on income earned in their home jurisdiction whilst simultaneous owing taxes in the US (because the US taxes world-wide income). In this case, the IRS generally allows people in that situation to deduct most of the taxes paid in other tax-treaty jurisdictions from their US tax bills to avoid double-taxation. The net is the H1b person has to pay the full amount of US taxes, but some of it may be effectively received by other countries for which the US has specific tax treaty obligation.
They claim, they can't find the talent. Utter BS, often they replaced trained with untrained workers, and have the trained workers train their replacements.
And a lot of them are fucking hopeless.
There's tonnes of them, all with the full suite of certificates that can't even answer the first non-scripted question in an interview. The scary part is that they still get hired. Who hires these people?
I'd really like this, the brain drain caused by U.S. companies makes finding decent local talent annoying. Importing external talent unfortunately is more difficult here than the U.S.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Sounds like a reason to move more offices outside of the U.S. to me?
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Considering the amount of recruiters I get offering just $60,000 salary or less for working in the US (this is less than I get paid annually, lol), I don't think so. When I researched it (I was genuinely curious was $60,000 always seemed to be the most they were willing to spend), it turns out that you can be an "exempt H-1B nonimmigrant" which is someone who earns at least $60,000 per year or holds a master's degree (or similar, higher) related to the area of employment. I believe much of what brings immigrants to the U.S. is the hope of the 'American dream', which seems closer to a fantasy than realistic to me. I have a feeling even if this rule came in, you would still have this exemption rule on education which would not assist the situation.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
I dunno... If you put your hand in my pocket and fish around a bit then you will probably find some nuts.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Meh... I mean, it's totally bad and she should not have done it. But I suspect that 90% of your population isn't going to give a rats ass about the e-mail server debacle.
Given the choice between 'maybe did some shady things with an email server that she shouldn't have had' vs. 'wants to ban a large group of people from the country', many, many people are going to be able to put up with the former to avoid the latter.
If the qualifications involve a PhD, 20 years of experience in C++17 and X86_128 assembly plus age < 30 I'm not surprised.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Well, I think we're saying the same thing here... $60K used to be a decent salary in 1990, but today it barely pays a share of rent in many tech employment centers. So, if that $60K were adjusted back up to a decent salary for today - we'd all be peachy again.
In Florida, we have "homestead exemption" from property tax - when enacted, $25K was 90% of the value of most modest homes, it was a very significant tax break for the average homeowner. Even in 1990, when I bought my first (2br 1ba) home, the exemption cut 50% of my property taxes. Today, a "modest" home in Florida is around $200K, and that $25K exemption is in the noise - your assessment error is likely more than $25K these days (in which direction mostly depends on the county you live in.)
In short: laws that call out dollar amounts, but do not get adjusted for inflation, are silly.
The market doesn't care whether the people willing to do the job for $75000 are Americans or Indians. If Indians can't come to the US to do these jobs, the usual result isn't that Americans get the jobs for $100000, it's that the jobs go overseas one way or another: via foreign subsidiaries, inversions, or foreign competition. And even if the jobs stayed in the US and salaries were raised, it would simply mean that prices would adjust accordingly in the US.
Attempts to keep salaries high through government mandates and restrictions like this are the cause of US job losses, loss of US competitiveness, increasing inequality, and middle class income stagnation.
H1-B salary requirements are actually based on "prevailing wage", as determined every year by the Office of Foreign Labor Certification. http://www.foreignlaborcert.do... That means that they are not just keeping up with inflation, they are actually keeping up with above average salary increases in each area of employment.
Like the indictment came down for the Bush administration for their use of off site email?
emt 377 emt 4
I'm a computer science professor who started as an assistant professor on an H-1B visa, making less than $110,000. Since then, I've won a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and brought in a few millions of dollars of federal grant funding, as well as established strong ties with industry and government labs. I've also mentored many graduate and undergraduate students who are US citizens, some who have gone into graduate school with fellowships that have been based on work in my lab. Others have gone onto academic positions of their own after earning a PhD under my advising. Another group of students has gone on to get excellent jobs at major tech companies.
Were this program in place, I would not have been able to get a job in the US. I'm now a green card holder on the path the naturalization, making above the threshold that Senator Cruz proposed, and bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to the university where I work. You should ask yourself whether I have been a net positive for the United States or not. If this proposal, supported by many here, goes through, others like me will not even have a chance to prove their value.
I get the issues with the H-1B and the lock-in to companies while making under the prevailing wage, but this is a blunt-force solution that could end up having wildly unintended consequences.
Trump supporters tend to be one of two type of people. First is scared older white people who mourn the end of the 1950s. Second is the type of person that looks at a house that has a leak in the roof and needs some other repairs and decides the best solution is to burn the house down. Cruz supporters tend to be made more of the second group.
"Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
My HR department managed to find qualified American engineers. .com bubble, everyone and his dog spot was trying to get "trained for tech".
And if universities are having a hard time with STEM graduates, tech companies have themselves to blame.
Who wants to follow a profession into the shredding machine?
Tech management keeps having Americans train offshore workers so the offshore workers can replace the American ones.
Even though there are still jobs out there, it's hard to tell someone "get a tech job".
The market clearly works. During the lead-up to the
We had people applying for jobs for open slots where it seemed that recognizing a computer 3 out of 4 times was sufficient for an interview.
I have worked with many H1Bs. The ones I have worked with have been OK. Not the stellar God like creatures business would have you believe.
Ordinary, OK, nothing to write home about, got stuff done. Just like the Americans they worked with.
And on pay, here is an anecdote to match yours.
Tech worker responded to a craigslist ad I had placed for camping cots.
Why? So she and a coworker from India would have something to sleep on.
She got to my house on a bus.
Tied the cots together with rags, so they would not bang the other passengers, and be something she could manage to carry.
Now, tell me she was paid ( Intel or someone contracted to Intel, from her badge ) the prevailing wage that she felt she could not afford a cheap car between the two of them and a pair of second hand real beds. In terms of time and effort, both a car and the buying of real beds would be cheaper....
emt 377 emt 4
His pandering is obviously working.
They're busy grabbing other peoples nuts and handing them out as freebies.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Why is there so much noise on this forum? Why can't people attack the idea and not the person? For one thing what is wrong with the idea. If someone keeps going off topic I think they should be banned. I am sure I will get attacked for my opinion, especially by those that espouse free speech for themselves but not for anyone else. However at this point what difference does it make?
Temporarily stop until we figure out how radical Muslims get in is what was proposed. Don't perpetuate media's distortion of the truth. Seems reasonable to me and has precedent
Prevailing wage based on location is always going to be a tricky thing, kind of like the people who think school loans should only go to certain in demand majors. The more you try and fix broken systems, I think the systems just end up more broken. Many things sound good in theory, but lets say maybe now only companies in places with high costs of living can afford H-1B's now you're favoring some companies. To me it sounds like there should be some pretty easy solutions to stop fraud and waste with food stamps, welfare, disability, income tax, etc, in reality things are no so easy I guess.
Florida was stolen by Jeb Bush enabling his AG, Katherine Harris, to disallow any voter who had a name similar to any convicted felon. FIFTY_THOUSAND voters - mostly minorities who vote Dem - were kept from voting. Bush won by 500 votes.
1. Adolf Hitler was a socialist, his party was the "National Socialist German Workers' Party" (NSDAP, "NAZI" was not the actual party name)
2. Benito Mussolini was a card-carrying socialist who was a leader in the Italian socialist party, who then he went on to found his fascist party on many of those socialist ideals blended with Italian nationalism.
and while we're at it:
3. The supposedly communist USSR of WWII and the Cold War era was the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"
4. Pol Pot, of "killing fields" infamy was a Marxist, as was Chairman Mao, of "cultural revolution" and "little red book" infamy.
Every one of these millions-of-dead-victims murder machines was a leftist outfit based on some form of Marxist Ideology, usually mixed with either atheism (USSR, China, Pol Pot) or paganism (the NAZIs), with Italy as an outlier being based in the same city at the vatican and also having not done its own genocide. NONE were based on the protestant Christian ideological roots that gave rise to the political and economic liberty in the USA, Canada, England, Australia, etc.
I thought they would leave every immigrant in the world in before tampering with the sacred right of employers - sorry, wealth creators - to offer the rate of their choice to their peons to be.
He's from Calgary. He just represents Texas. #TheCanchurianCandidate
So far H1B were often used for mundane, entry level jobs that provide wages that aren't great to start with. With Cruz's suggestion the H1Bs would compete with the real jobs that pay well. What a dumb idea! I rather see low end jobs get outsourced or shipped overseas so that we can focus on getting one of the high paying positions. Cruz once again shows that he has absolutely no clue and excels only in radical religious fundamentalism (like ISIS or Boka Harom).
Yes, but no. You are right on what the original intent is, but forcing H1Bs to compete with high paying jobs is the wrong approach. The simplest of all fixes is to increase the ridiculously low filing fee to a six figure value. Rather than setting 110k as minimum wage for H1B make that the non-refundable filing fee. That will limit H1B truly to those positions where talent cannot be found in the US. For all other cases it is cheaper to hire local talent or pay for moving expenses and provide a sign on bonus. It is even cheaper to pay the education of potential candidates. In regards to your post's footnote, the TSA generated a lot of jobs. It is a massive government employment program and sadly that is the only thing it accomplished. It did not make air travel any safer than it already was.
534 to be exact, and that only after 690 ILLEGAL unsigned or unwitnessed or unstamped or unsworn absentee ballots only accepted in republican leaning districts on orders from Bush.
But none of that would have made any difference had Nader honored his promise to withdraw in every close state.
He refused, giving at least 24,800 votes to Bush by taking them from Gore (no one thinks people who liked Bush voted anti-Corporatist Nader).
I quit my job, contact the offshoring place in India, tell them to submit me for my job.
Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
Reverts to Yakra!!
http://undecidedgames.blogspot.com