Trump Admin Takes First Steps To Overhaul H-1B Visa That Tech Companies Use To Hire Internationally (geekwire.com)

President Donald Trump's immigration authorities are moving to enact broad changes to a visa that allows American companies to bring international workers to the country. From a report: On Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Department of Homeland Security released a proposed rule that takes the first steps toward overhauling the H-1B visa. The new rule would prioritize applications for workers with advanced degrees from American universities. The policy would also change the application process companies go through when they want to secure H-1B visas for foreign talent. Instead of completing a petition for the new employee, companies would register for free online to enter what's been described as the "H-1B lottery." Immigration law caps the number of regular H-1B visas that can be awarded each year at 65,000. An additional 20,000 may be awarded to workers with master's degrees and PhDs. Under the new system, USCIS would review all applications, including those for workers with advanced degrees, during a registration period before the actual petitions are filed.

Comments

Large amount of H1Bs

[BrookHarty]

I worked at ATT Wireless when number portability was released, and people could finally switch cell phone providers and keep their number. The VP of finance fired the entire department running the software/services and brought in Mindtree (i think) to replace the workers. He had a couple hundred H1B's working months in advance of the migration.

The Migration failed horribly. ATT Wireless missed the deadline, hundreds of people lost their jobs, and ATT wireless couldn't enact number portability quick enough and was fined millions of dollars a day.

My engineering department was moved into the same building as the H1B's, and it was a nightmare. I've worked with H1B's over the years, but never experienced the mess of the restrooms and building. Working at other companies with H1B's and Indian Nocs, and no issues, so no idea why ATT and Mindtree was so horrible. My experience with H1B's have been mixed, some cheap companies pushing Cisco certified engineers who didn't even know how to use SSH to talented skilled programmers who became citizens. So I do think some H1B's are being used as an excuse that no US workers can be found, theres always unemployeed looking for work, when I know some engineers who took 3-6 months, and a Storage engineer who took a year to find a storage architect job. YMMV.

Also up here in Seattle, there are entire blocks of apartment buildings around Microsoft that Indian consulting companies rent out, and put 3-5 H1B's to an apartment, they live dirt cheap, its rather depressing to see how they live. Its not like theres not enough engineers around this area, we have Amazon, Google, Facebook, ATT, TMobile, Verizon, Apple, Blackberry, Tableu, and a zillion other tech companies here. Lots of us citizens looking for work. Last time I needed a job, I just posted what I wanted on craigslist in internet jobs, and had a recruiter calling me with what I wanted. But I admit I'm lucky, I had telecom experience in a telecom town.

So is cleaning up H1B abuse good? Sure. Companies posting for database admins with 10+ years experience, programing, and paying 7 dollars an hour, so they can post "cant find any workers!" to hire H1B workers, is a scam. And that should be ended.

Also, I like the 20K for PHD/Masters H1B, those people will demand high wages, and should help boost up wages for everyone. (I hope)

The 65k cap is a lie

[rsilvergun]

This is what I hate about corporate media. They're left on social issue but hard right on economics.

Companies get 65k H1-Bs every year. Those visas are good for 4-6 years. There's over 800,000 H1-B visa workers in this country. Most of them tech workers.

If Trump wants my attention he can start by reversing the Obama era executive order that let H1-B spouses work. That basically doubled the number of H1-Bs to 1.6 million overnight. That would also put upward pressure on H1-B wages since they'd have to pay for a stay at home spouse. He promised that during the campaign. It's been over 2 years and I'm still waiting. And no, the courts don't matter. It's an executive order. If anything the courts would side with reversing it. Obama overstepped his bounds signing the order.

This same Congress is getting ready to double the number of H2-Bs, by the way. With the help of the Clinton Democrats like Pelosi and Chuck Shumer, I might add. I'm not expecting anything here. Donald Trump's also staffed his admin with the same ex-Goldman Sach's people who've been running the country since Clinton.

If anyone wants to vote the bums out you'll get your chance in 2011. Show up at your primary. Also, and I know this isn't popular to say, but don't vote GOP. The Dems have Clinton Democrats, and those bastards need to be primaried, but the Dems have a _few_ pro worker folks like Bernie and Liz Warren. Yeah, they won't gut immigration, but birth rates are down, do you really want it gutted? What's gonna happen to your 401k if we're short workers. No, what you want is for some of that money the immigrants are earning to make it to you and your community. The GOP has been pushing trickle down economics again. The Tax Cut Trump did proved that. And it's not working, like always. GOP is out of ideas, Clinton Democrats are out of ideas. Time to give the Berniecrats a go.

Re:So...

[Gravis Zero]

There is no law to say USA wages must be higher. Competition is a double edged sword

This is exactly correct. Instead of pulling other countries up, we're pulling our own country down to their level. A race to the bottom only benefits corporations, not workers. The solution for this is to place taxes on goods made by workers paid less than 95% the average wage in the US. The idea is to effectively make the cost of labor closer to being flat. This will raise the standard of living for workers in other countries significantly while preventing using it as a wage suppression tactic.

Competition only works if the wages are comparable. The current disconnect in wages has allowed rampant exploitation.

YES! PLEAAASE throw us into that briar patch!

[Ungrounded Lightning]

The alternative is to set up software hubs in those other countries.

Then watch your cutting-edge company dull and rot, as the 10-minute turnaround time for Q-A turns into one day due to the near-half-day time offset.

(It's especially a scream to watch management try to use Agile techniques across a 12-hour offset and a giant culture gap, too.)

And that's assuming you find exceptionally competent help. (Hint: There ARE really competent engineers in, say, India. But they're pretty much all employed, and paid substantially more than the bulk of the body-shop fodder which are most of what you get now.)

One way to solve the time gap issue is to move the whole operation, including architecture, design, and admin, offshore. But then your IP is over there and NOT over here. If they're not competent you're left with restarting from scratch or an older snapshot when you realize they've blown it (and you're now months or years behind in the race to the window). If they ARE competent, watch for them to quit and start their own company (with your IP, under their IP laws and (non-)enforcement), leaving you in the same position but with a new competitor.

Even with engineers of ordinary competence and the project split across the pond, offshoring can be of negative value: Your designer spends a bunch of time breaking off a chunk to be done overseas, then ends up doing the work himself anyhow, when the module doesn't arrive in time. So the added worker cost both his own pay plus a bunch of the time of the local guy on the critical path without any benefit from his work product.

The invisible hand will get around to swatting the company - perhaps into the dustbin of history. But that takes some time.

= = =

But, speaking of the invisible hand: I'd like to see if we can get its input.

A company "needs" a foreign talent? It's not just using H1Bs to get cheap labor? OK. Then the talent is worth a lot of money, and should be paid it, right?

So lets try this:
  - A cap on the number of H1Bs, some number N.
  - And each year they go to the N candidates (or as renewals for those already here) being paid the highest salaries (with preference to those already employed in case of ties.)