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US Suspends 'Expedited' H-1B Visas (sfgate.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the no-fast-tracking dept.

"Starting April 3, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will temporarily suspend premium processing for all H-1B petitions," read Friday's announcement, which says the suspension "may last up to 6 months." Slashdot reader elrous0 sees it as part of the "ongoing efforts to curb abuses in the controversial H-1B program." The San Francisco Chronicle reports: While it could be difficult to divorce the move Friday from the Trump administration's broader immigration crackdown, some experts believed the agency's decision to be apolitical. "It has everything to do with an understaffed, overworked, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services," said Jason Finkelman, an Austin, Texas, immigration attorney, adding that the wait time for an H-1B visa in California is currently about eight months. However, Vivek Wadhwa, an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Silicon Valley campus in NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, said the suspension seems like a message from the government that you "can't buy your way into America."
Whatever the motivation, Engadget believes this will impact large tech companies. "Financial Times quotes a lawyer saying that 'close to 100 percent' of applications from companies like Microsoft utilize the option."

32 of 295 comments (clear)

  1. Well, that's one thing by tietokone-olmi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Let's see if this changes the division of income in affected companies to better follow market conditions.

    I wouldn't expect too much of a republican administration, in that regard. (nor the other party. let's not make this a pissing match.)

    1. Re:Well, that's one thing by tietokone-olmi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We're talking about H1B's here. Imported labour. If their jobs could be offshored, they already would've been: the offshoring job-market favours capital even more than that for indentured brown people.

      Some leftie you are, failing even at basic Marxist economics.

    2. Re:Well, that's one thing by negRo_slim · · Score: 4, Interesting

      minor economic gain is no argument for keeping a broken system intact. scrap the whole thing let citizens get proper pay and not have to compete with indentured servants.

      --
      On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
    3. Re:Well, that's one thing by gfxguy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I work for a rather large (and here nameless) entertainment company. They tried off-shoring our technical support to Romania. Our various sub-companies make a very good profit, year after year - as much of the entertainment industry, we generally weather bad economies better than most because people fall back to less expensive forms of entertainment like TV and movies rather than concerts or vacations. Why did the bean counters feel like it wasn't enough? I don't know.... but looking at numbers on paper is far different than what happens in reality.

      Yes, our tech support was expensive - but responsive, fast, taking care of issues correctly the first time and right away, largely because someone could actually come to our desk and fix things. The Romania deal was a disaster. It's not that Romanians are stupid - far from it; it's that it's a lot more difficult to troubleshoot an issue from 5000 miles away than it is when you're sitting in front of the computer having problems. Then this bean counter probably got accolades and a big bonus, all the while actually COSTING the company more money in lost productivity. We have since switched back. Unfortunately, the company has already taken a number of other cost cutting measures that look good on paper, but have already started to backfire. They will not learn, they are only interested in the short term gain. Companies need more forward thinking leaders, but when CEO's get golden parachutes while driving companies into bankruptcy, it doesn't happen.

      So... long story short, it is indeed valuable actually having people here. And no H1B visas needed - none of the fired tech support people were H1B, and they didn't need to be.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
    4. Re:Well, that's one thing by Imrik · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Short term gains increase stock value, investors sell, no one involved cares what happens after that.

    5. Re: Well, that's one thing by hwstar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Oh, while we're at it, lets not forget these business community sweeteners:

      1. Employment at will. This concept is totally alien in most of the developed world.
      2. No paid sick time (OK California and a few other states have made progress).
      3. No limits on the maximum duration of the workweek. The EU's working time directive is a good start.
      4. No paid vacation or family leave. The US is quite alone here as well.
      5. Non-compete contracts where there is no severance pay guaranteed if you are laid off.
      6. Binding arbitration which denies your right to trial without a jury.

      Unless other countries adopt these business-friendly labor laws, a lot of jobs will remain here. Frankly, that has a snowball's chance in hell of happening.

    6. Re: Well, that's one thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I wrote days ago we will be thanking trump as he does more and more to give citizens thier jobs back. We are just getting started people. Soon citizens will be able to work these well paid jobs again.

      Sure you don't care since you are employed. But many others are beaten out because of simply lower immigrant worker wages. That's it.

      Do you really think these are geniuses coming over???? No. And do you really think mostvtech jobs require geniuses???? Absolutely no no way.

      I am loving this. It us still not a level playing field but every bit helps. As for you h visa holders--I hope you can get you residence cards.

      If not, the people who live thier lives here matter first.

      Thank you Trump!!!! And I hated him so much during the election. I'm great full other Americans had enough common sense.

    7. Re: Well, that's one thing by Sesostris+III · · Score: 5, Informative

      3. No limits on the maximum duration of the workweek. The EU's working time directive is a good start.

      Luckily we do not live in the EUSSR. If I want to work 80 hours a week, that's my problem. If I don't, I can work somewhere else (H1-Bs can do that too).

      OK. I'm in the EU (for the moment), so I'll respond to this. You as an individual can opt of the 48 hour week. That is your choice. However you can't be forced to opt out (expect in those occupations where it would be dangerous to do so).

      https://www.gov.uk/maximum-weekly-working-hours/weekly-maximum-working-hours-and-opting-out

      So what's with the "EUSSR" label?

      --
      You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough. - Blake
    8. Re: Well, that's one thing by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Every large corporation that I've worked for has paid sick time for all their exempt employees

      Great when you work for a large corporation. Not so great if you're a fresh out of school kid looking for some stable income and ending up not working for multi-national who "cares" about employees.

      Luckily we do not live in the EUSSR. If I want to work 80 hours a week, that's my problem.

      If you want to work that will be your problem. Humans love being self destructive. Nothing says self-destruction more than volunteered unpaid overtime at the expense of your family. Oh you think employees are financially affected by this rule? Maybe you should read it before commenting.

      Again, every large corporation that I've worked for has their own policies for that. It may not be mandatory by law, but it is definitely offered.

      Yeah great if you're at a large corporation. You get 2 weeks, 3 if you're lucky. We'll continue to mock you from every other country. I've never seen a large employer offer you (even with some negotiation) what most other countries get as a mandatory minimum. But hey 80 hour weeks with no vacation, you sound like you're really living your life.

      No, you deny that yourself when you accept the contract. You don't have to. You entered the agreement to use binding arbitration.

      Is this another one of those "employees have the power to negotiate these contracts" thing that Americans are the only country who hasn't realised it rarely works out well for the employees?

      But hey, all those wonderful conditions we have are voluntary. If you want to screw yourself in the name of your employer, you're more than welcome to do that in the EU too. At least healthcare will cover the result.

    9. Re: Well, that's one thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm an expat American who's lived and worked in the "EUSSR" for 10+ years.

      Where I live, my employer gets a choice between:

      1. 5 weeks (25 days) paid vacation/annum + time-and-a-half (or in some cases double-time) for any & all hours over 37.5/week.

      2. 6 weeks (30 days) paid vacation/annum + no overtime pay but no hours over 48/week, ever.

      My employer let me choose, and I took Option #2.

      I will never accept a job from an American firm again unless they give me one of the options listed above, in writing.

      So far, every time I've been offered a position by an American company (and there have been many), what happens is something like this: (a) I tell them that this is what I expect; (b) They respond that I'm full of shit, that's not possible, etc; (c) I show them my current contract; (d) Offer is hastily withdrawn.

      Enjoy your life in the Gulag, dumbass.

    10. Re: Well, that's one thing by sabri · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm an expat American who's lived and worked in the "EUSSR" for 10+ years.

      That's funny, I'm the opposite. I worked in the EUSSR for 15 years, and moved to the U.S. in 2010. My perspective is very different than yours, and here is why:

      First of all, taxes. All that free time and subsidized healthcare must be paid one way or the other. My income tax in my home-country was 52%, sales tax (VAT) is 21%. So out of the gate, the government took 73% of every euro I made. Wanna buy a car? Sure. MSRP is 10,000. Add 21% tax to get to 12,100. Now add 9,181 special car-tax and you get to pay 21,281 for your 10,000 car. Calculate it yourself: http://www.autoweek.nl/bpmcalc...

      Second, like in the U.S., once you are regular full-time, most positions won't pay overtime anyway.

      Third, and this is the most important, in my home country, it is extremely difficult to get a regular full-time position, because it is extremely difficult for employers to fire you. If you have a full-time position that's not temporarily, they will have to go to court to get you fired. So they will avoid doing that as long as they can by giving you a temporary contract. First 6 months, then a year. Then perhaps another year. Maybe after that you'll get a full time position if you're special enough. If you work in a call center and are easily replaceable, they'll hire someone else so they can restart the clock. California is an at-will state and I've never had a temp contract, ever. This is what happens when the government starts interfering with private contracts. My brother and sister are well in their thirties and only recently got a regular full time position. Did I mention that you won't get a mortgage on a temporary contract?

      And I did not even mention all the abuse I've seen of the welfare state. People who are perfectly capable of working, but choose not to because the government will provide for them, on my dime. Remember, the government uses my taxpayer money, extracted from my paycheck under the threat of a gun to my head, to pay other people not to work. Fuck that shit, and fuck the EU, for that reason alone already.

      And I did not even start about civil liberties. Civil liberties in Europe, right. No freedom of speech, every ISP must retain all logs of you for 6 months, even a park ranger can check your internet history. That's why: EUSSR.

      --
      I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.
  2. Thank you Trump! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    He's on a great start to be our best President ever.

    1. Re: Thank you Trump! by CaptainDork · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You do know ... ... you can't mark someone a troll AND comment, right?

      Unless you're in a box with some radioactive material, a cat, and vial of poison.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  3. I think I know their answer by s.petry · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is good news for the US economy as a whole, at least on the surface. Lets avoid the arguments about being paid less or being treated as indentured servants for now. A good portion of the H1B worker's money goes back to their home country. Even if they made the same wages, they don't spend the money the same so American's lose money in the economy and jobs at the lower end.

    The answer from many of these big companies will to simply lay off more Americans and move more jobs overseas. Those regulations need to see some light for this to truly work out.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    1. Re:I think I know their answer by barc0001 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Most of the jobs that can be easily offshored have already been done by these companies. There's a reason they want the H1Bs instead and that's because they understand the limitations of offshoring and the communication and control gaps. Offshoring looks good on paper but in practice for non-trivial tasks there's a friction to the process that shows up after actually doing it. Of the various companies I've worked at that have done offshoring they all ended up moving some or all of the jobs back because the quality of the work was inferior, getting the problems corrected took time due to the time zone lag and there was also a lack of control due to that same time zone lag. In the end most of the projects ended up costing almost as much and took 3-4x longer to do which ended up with large opportunity costs for the companies.

    2. Re:I think I know their answer by jandersen · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There's a reason they want the H1Bs instead and that's because they understand the limitations of offshoring and the communication and control gaps

      In part, but another side of this is that they want to drive down wages, not just for the imported workers, but for the locals as well. The more sensible way to handle this would be to require companies to pay a minimum wage, and not a universal minimum wage, but one that follows the job description or something like that. Something like that is already in place in many countries - in UK, overseas companies can get visas to transfer staff from their overseas departments, but their pay in UK must be of the right size for the job title.That way the companies can get their genuine needs for expertise met, while not being able to undercut wages for local staff.

  4. An Excellent Start But More is Required by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hopefully, the Trump administration will build upon this first step by properly increasing the minimum wages of an H1B worker to something more commensurate with that of a world class expert in science, technology, engineering or math. The wage should reflect the fact that the necessary worker is so rare and valuable that no US citizen living anywhere in the United States can satisfy the requirements. In my opinion, a person of such outstanding capability cannot be worth less than $250,000 per year in salary to the employer. If Google or Facebook or Apple need these people so desperately, it should be no problem for such wealthy corporations to pay what amounts to a pittance for skills and expertise which cannot, or so they claim, be found in any American citizens.

  5. This is actually not difficult, just blame Trump by El+Cubano · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While it could be difficult to divorce the move Friday from the Trump administration's broader immigration crackdown

    It is actually not difficult at all. The default position since Trump got elected has been to blame him. This despite the fact that it makes people who are otherwise legitimate, respectable public figures seem like raving lunatics. They seem like lunatics because this is their mindless reaction to anything they think they can associate with Trump, including things (like the Yemen raid) which were planned and prepared during the Obama administration.

    For example. I just saw an article how SXSW is now facing a public backlash over an immigration-related clause in this contracts for performers. People are just skewering them, calling for boycotts, etc. They are lamenting how SXSW is part of the immigration problem and awful their support for Trump's immigration policies is. The clause has been there for four years.

    Here is some more from the Wikipedia article on Deportation and removal from the United States:

    In the 105 years between 1892 and 1997, the United States deported 2.1 million people.[2]

    Between 1997 and 2001, during the Presidency of Bill Clinton, about 870,000 people were deported from the United States.[3]

    Between 2001 and 2008, during the Presidency of George W. Bush, about 2 million people were deported from the United States.

    Between 2009 and 2016, during the Presidency of Barack Obama, about 3.2 million people were deported from the United States.[4]

    As you read that, remember that during one of his State of the Union Addresses Clinton specifically called for greater enforcement of immigration laws, and got a bipartisan standing ovation at that comment.

    Also, just a couple of years ago immigrant rights groups were calling Obama "deporter-in-chief". I wonder why that was. I seem to recall Bush being branded a racist immigrant hater and immigrants came out in droves to vote for Obama. Twice. The single biggest deception in modern politics was Obama pulling a fast one on the entire immigrant population of the US. Twice.

    Absolutely none of that matters now. Since Trump got elected, we can just project everything on to him, even if it makes the people doing so look like raving lunatics.

    Seriously, he has been in office a whopping 6 weeks. Keep this up and in a few months nobody will be listening (c.f., The Boy Who Cried Wolf). Think about that: nobody will be listening.

  6. Re:This is actually not difficult, just blame Trum by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For example. I just saw an article how SXSW is now facing a public backlash over an immigration-related clause in this contracts for performers. People are just skewering them, calling for boycotts, etc. They are lamenting how SXSW is part of the immigration problem and awful their support for Trump's immigration policies is. The clause has been there for four years.

    They're wrong to blame Trump for that clause, but they're not wrong to be more worried about it than usual at a time when Trump is directing the INS to run around and lie to police departments if necessary to get compliance for their raiding parties.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  7. Vivek Wadhwa by dcw3 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Mr. Wadhaw apparently doesn't understand that premium processing does not buy you a visa, or increase your chances of getting one.

    http://www.nolo.com/legal-ency...

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
  8. Not the first time by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Informative

    They also delayed processing in 2015, with the same reason given: so they could catch up on their backlog.

    My dream is that Slashdot become a place where people do a little research before commenting irrationally.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  9. To curb abuses... by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Insightful

    USA should stop treating degrees from diploma mills in India as equivalent to degrees from accredited us universities. They can start a program to let foreign universities to undergo the same accreditation process. It pains me they treat IIT ivy league Caltech and colleges owned by Indian politicians selling degrees for cash as all the same. I am an IIT grad. I am nursing two h1b applications. One Indian from Caltech and a Chinese woman from ut Austin. It is a crime their applications go through the same lottery with crescent diploma mill, India.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  10. Re:This is actually not difficult, just blame Trum by quonset · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The default position since Trump got elected has been to blame him.

    And the default position since Trump got elected has to been to hail him for the rise of the stock market, rising corporate profits, and better than expected GDP. So which is it? If he's going to get the kudos even though he's only been in office a few weeks he should also get the blame, right?

    things (like the Yemen raid) which were planned and prepared during the Obama administration.

    Planning is one thing, executing is another and it was Trump who gave the go ahead for the raid despite not going through the normal procedure to get an overview of what was to take place. From all reports Trump pulled this out of the hat and said, "Do it" without any thought or consideration. Even after they knew the raid had been compromised he went ahead with it. You can't blame Obama for this one. Trump said do it. He's the president and as the saying goes, "The buck stops here."

    Since Trump got elected, we can just project everything on to him, even if it makes the people doing so look like raving lunatics.

    The only one looking like a raving lunatic is Trump with his, "Fake news!" every time his words and deeds are reported, his ramblings about vote fraud despite him claiming in lawsuits to stop vote recounts there was no evidence of vote fraud so there was no need for a recount, his, "The press is the enemy of the American people" comments and of course his latest tirade-without-evidence, Obama wiretapped him during the campaign.

    If Hillary had said any of the above you would be on here pointing out she was a lunatic, yet because Trump said it we're supposed to give him a pass?

  11. Admit reality, just once by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    has to been to hail him for the rise of the stock market

    Come on. The rise started literally the day after Trump was elected. Surely even you can admit Trump is responsible - not because of what Trump has done mind you, but what he is predicted to do.

    Regardless, Trump is responsible.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  12. Re:On our way... by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It saddens me that people modded parent down. Do you really hate America so much that you WANT it to fail?

    I think a lot of people need to get over their self-hatred, white guilt, emo post-modern bullshit and stop being ashamed to be a citizen of the country that pioneered the modern democracy and has made huge advancements in medicine, technology, academia, etc. that have greatly benefited the entire world.

    Have we been, or will we ever be, perfect? Fuck no! But just because your country has flaws doesn't mean you can't be proud of all the great stuff we have have done (and will do). So stand up for the National Anthem. Maybe even pick up a flag and try waving it for once. And not in some hipster ironic way. Try celebrating your country in a way that says "My country created the Bill of Rights when most countries were still monarchies!"

    And that goes even more for Europe. Your countries created Western Civilization and the modern legal/human rights system and you act like that heritage is something to only be ashamed of?? WTF is wrong with you? You've focused for so long on everything you've done wrong that you've forgotten about the many more things you've done RIGHT.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  13. Re:Reactionaries by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 4, Informative

    The EU yesterday issued a statement that US visitors may lose rights to travel without Visas to the EU. A statement which should be seen by all Americans as a blackmail attempt...

    Let's not twist the truth of the matter, shall we. Which is:

    The passing of the non-binding resolution comes after the US failed to agree visa-free travel for citizens of five EU countries

    ...

    It comes after the US failed to agree visa-free travel for citizens of five EU countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania – as part of a reciprocity agreement. US citizens can normally travel to all countries in the bloc without a visa.

    ...

    The Commission discovered three years ago that the US was not meeting its obligations under the reciprocity agreement but has not yet taken any legal action. The latest vote, prepared by the civil liberties committee and approved by a plenary session of parliament, gives the Commission two months to act before MEPs can consider action in the European Court of Justice.

    So, the real story here is that, if the US wants visa-free travel to the (entire) EU for its citizens, it must extend the same privilege to (all) EU nationals, but the US has been failing to do so. The EU calling out the US on this point hardly constitutes "blackmail".

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  14. Fake news on H1B - the "spin" begins by takochan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Though I did not vote for Trump, I have to say he is certainly right about all the fake news (on this topic at least)..

    The "spin" regarding H1B in news articles spewing out since this was announced this morning is amazing...

    Everyone (on this site at least), knows that H1B is all about getting rid of Americans in IT jobs in the USA to replace them with cheaper Indians onshore for roles that companies were not able to offshore to India for whatever reason..

    On major sites as of this morning..:

    On Google News / CNN:
    http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/0...
    "Large firms say they need the visas to bring in engineers and other high-skilled workers they can't find in the U.S. " ...the article has the above, plus a whole bunch of unrelated sob stories about people who cannot find doctors (an H1B edge case).

    again, the fake "skills shortage"..while in reality our IT grads are working in $30K annual salary jobs, Best-Buy and Starbucks because they cannot find good IT work. I know plenty of smart folks in situations like this..

    On Reuters:
    http://www.reuters.com/article...
    "The H-1B non-immigrant visa allows U.S. companies to employ graduate-level workers in several specialized fields, including information technology, medicine, engineering and mathematics." ..slightly better, but the article again fails to mention the actual issue anywhere in the piece..that virtually all the of the H1B visas issued are used by outsourcing or IT companies to replace Americans in IT roles in the USA with cheaper onshore Indians flown in from India.

    I have to hand it to him, Trump may be rather nuts overall, but he is actually doing what he said he would do, and he is the first person in office to actually address this issue (or even mention it).., which is more than you can say for either the R's or D's that have been president up to now. (I don't really consider Trump to be an 'R', either, for what its worth..he is following his own agenda mostly unrelated to the R party from what I can see..)

    Kudos to him, maybe I was wrong about him after all..

  15. Eliminate the lottery by ShoulderOfOrion · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Replace it with a salary auction for the limited number of H-1Bs available. A company would 'buy' H-1Bs by bidding a minimum yearly salary for each visa, which it would then be required to pay the visa holder for the duration of the visa. The company with the highest bid wins the visa. Cap the number of visas available such that the minimum winning bids average 10% more than the salary paid to an American worker for the same job. That would allow Google and Microsoft to buy as many of the offshore geniuses as they want (or can afford), while putting a fork in the IT outsourcing firms who game the current lottery system.

  16. Re:Reactionaries by myid · · Score: 3, Informative

    "The reactionaries were further applauding Mexico dumping 150 million tons of sewage claiming that the US deserved it for wanting control of it's own borders."

    Haven't heard that one. Valid link?

    This is an article on the sewage spill. The article is called "'Tsunami of sewage spills' in Tijuana fouls U.S. beaches, may have been intentional".

    A massive sewage spill in Tijuana that polluted beaches in San Diego County last month may have been no accident, according to state and local officials.

    In a preliminary estimate, officials said about 143 million gallons of raw sewage spewed into the Tijuana River during a period of more than two weeks that ended Thursday. While cross-border sewage spills of a few million gallons are routine for the region, this is one of the largest such events in the last two decades, according to water quality experts in San Diego.

  17. Buying your way in by nicolaiplum · · Score: 4, Insightful

    " a message from the government that you "can't buy your way into America.""

    You can buy your way into the USA just fine. It will cost you $500k, or $1M if you don't want to deal wth a poor rural area, and some paperwork setting up a company.

    --
    "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled"
  18. I'm Not Buying it. by sycodon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Third World countries that still can't provide basic sanitation to their populace are highly unlikely to be producing technical talent that can't be found in the U.S.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  19. Re:Reactionaries by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It is nothing like "blackmail" when someone expects you to keep your end of an agreement you've signed, especially when the other party has been keeping theirs.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.