This is actually almost how it's supposed to work now
"Supposed" being the key word.
I would be quite happy if the government would have a 'cap-exempt' category of H visas requiring more stringent processing and with stricter qualifying rules similar to the O visa
Since we already have the O visa, why would we need that?
Please cite this theory and the empirical validation of it. Everybody around here claims crap like that. I have a theory that the moon is made of green cheese.
Right now I'm here on an O visa, and I've been approved for this year's H1-B lottery, so I'll soon be allowed to apply for a green card without resigning from my job.
The O series gives you an initial 3 years (same as the H-1B) and can be extended annually forever - that makes it more generous than the H-1B, so why do you want an H-1B? With an O series you can also apply for a green card the day you get here.
You do realize that it can take upwards of 20 years to get a green card, right?
Under what circumstances? (makes a big difference). Also it sounds like the queue is pretty full, so we can get all the immigrants we want. What's the problem from the POV of the US?
my father is a US Citizen... like it or not, there's a large global community now.
If there's such a global community, why should the US be biased towards you just because your father is a US citizen? Many people on this blog complain that Americans want special privileges, and it's true of you too.
I'm here because I'm among the best in my field.
Credentials please.
You can't expect the US to compete if they can't attract the best & brightest from around the world
Since you haven't provided credentials, why should I believe you are among the "best & brightest"?
BTW, do you realize that the term "the best and the brightest" is ironic, right? It was the name of a book by David Halberstam explaining how the vaunted geniuses in the White House got us sucked into the Vietnam War. You may want to find another phrase to modestly describe yourself.
is it your assertion that no-one from outside the US couple possibly have anything to contribute?
Of course not, but the only people we genuinely need are those who are tops in their fields. Otherwise we have plenty of home grown talent, and the H-1B program exists to suppress their wages. I assure you that most H-1B's are very far from the best in their fields.
Care to justify that assertion? The US worked fine for many many years without work visas. If you wanted to immigrate, you got a green card and came here as a person, not a worker.
Time for the States to stand up and take back powers from the Federal Government
Time for you to get a new line. Regulating immigration is solely a federal power, like foreign negotiations and trade, and has been since the founding of the Republic. I've never heard even the strictest of strict constructionists question that.
set the minimum H1B wage at 120% of the average wage in that area for that type of work and experience
Set it at 200% if you want. Laws are meaningless unless they're enforced. There are already anti-abuse provisions. When is the last time they were enforced?
This is a good decision. The current rules are rather inhumane.
Simple solution: eliminate the H-1B visa. A lot of whining and moaning about unfair or inhumane immigration policies (much of which I sympathize with) are the result of weird horse's ass visas like the H-1B. It's also not reasonable to say unemployed H-1B's have to leave the country. The fix is to return to the traditional approach to American immigration: get a green card. After that, and before becoming a naturalized citizen, about the only thing they can kick you out for is being convicted of a felony.
immigrants, and especially skilled immigrants, expand the economy
Your grasp of the situation has led you to answer the wrong question. Why should I care what the US GDP is? What matters to me is the US GDP per capita, and the distribution of income from that.
Actually, "the law" does allow a certain H1B to green card path, so yes, it's "what the law says".
We know what the law says. The reality, which often has little to do with legal details, is that the H-1B is primarily a guest worker program. That's how employer's use it, and if it wasn't primarily for guest workers, why have the H-1B visa at all? Get a green card and move on in. That's how other immigrants do it. Why should this case be any different? Oh, that's right, there is a critical shortage of technical workers. Also, I'm the Queen of England.
Most cities consider cars without tags to be a nuisance, and will tow them.
Off of private property, with no notification? That's still absurd. What next, they'll repaint your house and charge you through the nose for it if they don't like the color? Oh no, that's the HOA's job. HOA's are another thing we don't have around here, and I'm glad of it.
Despite what the neighborhood Nazis and their government cronies think, your neighborhood and your town won't turn into a slum because you're fixing up an unregistered car on your property, or paint your house an ugly color. I live in what's considered a pretty decent area, at least middle middle class. There is no problem fixing a car in your yard if it doesn't have plates. I have neighbors across the street who sometimes do it with trucks. I don't mean fake trucks like pickups, but delivery van size. I know people who keep construction equipment in their yards, including somebody up the street who has a house I could never hope to afford. None of it is a problem, the houses still sell for a kings ransom, it's not a nuisance to anyone, and nobody gives a damn.
Don't do this in California. They will tow your car right out of your driveway if they can see from the street that it does not have a license plate.
Wow, and I thought NY was a fascist state. What CA law justifies that? Around here, a car on private property needn't have any license plates, registration, or any such thing. If it's not on a public road it's not the government's business. I, and many people I know, have taken a junker to be fixed up or something, and only registered it, etc., after that was done. The only problem is neighbors who don't respect my cultural heritage as white trash. Do you think I should sue them on civil rights violations?
Only if you live in a city, for the most part. If you stop sucking off the teat of the Man and move out into the country there are no bullshit regulations like this.
Are you talking about those rural areas that get higher government subsidies per capita than the cities, and then crow about being rugged individualists?
Slashdot Mirror
This is actually almost how it's supposed to work now
"Supposed" being the key word.
I would be quite happy if the government would have a 'cap-exempt' category of H visas requiring more stringent processing and with stricter qualifying rules similar to the O visa
Since we already have the O visa, why would we need that?
Having met quite a lot of them, I've yet to discover one that's actually paid any less than their American (or green-card-holding) counterparts.
Where have you met them? Some companies are actually pretty good about that, but it's far from universal.
my salary is a little under double that of 70% of the people with the same job ('Software Engineer') within the same company
How did you get such precise statistics about the salary distribution for your employer?
Please cite this theory and the empirical validation of it. Everybody around here claims crap like that. I have a theory that the moon is made of green cheese.
There needs to be new form of Godwin's Law. Whoever uses the word "racist" automatically de-legitimizes his position.
Thank you.
Right now I'm here on an O visa, and I've been approved for this year's H1-B lottery, so I'll soon be allowed to apply for a green card without resigning from my job.
The O series gives you an initial 3 years (same as the H-1B) and can be extended annually forever - that makes it more generous than the H-1B, so why do you want an H-1B? With an O series you can also apply for a green card the day you get here.
You do realize that it can take upwards of 20 years to get a green card, right?
Under what circumstances? (makes a big difference). Also it sounds like the queue is pretty full, so we can get all the immigrants we want. What's the problem from the POV of the US?
my father is a US Citizen ... like it or not, there's a large global community now.
If there's such a global community, why should the US be biased towards you just because your father is a US citizen? Many people on this blog complain that Americans want special privileges, and it's true of you too.
I'm here because I'm among the best in my field.
Credentials please.
You can't expect the US to compete if they can't attract the best & brightest from around the world
Since you haven't provided credentials, why should I believe you are among the "best & brightest"?
BTW, do you realize that the term "the best and the brightest" is ironic, right? It was the name of a book by David Halberstam explaining how the vaunted geniuses in the White House got us sucked into the Vietnam War. You may want to find another phrase to modestly describe yourself.
is it your assertion that no-one from outside the US couple possibly have anything to contribute?
Of course not, but the only people we genuinely need are those who are tops in their fields. Otherwise we have plenty of home grown talent, and the H-1B program exists to suppress their wages. I assure you that most H-1B's are very far from the best in their fields.
There have always been visa categories for certain highly-skilled people
True. No Nobel Prize winner has ever been denied a visa.
that would make America's production collapse
Care to justify that assertion? The US worked fine for many many years without work visas. If you wanted to immigrate, you got a green card and came here as a person, not a worker.
Time for the States to stand up and take back powers from the Federal Government
Time for you to get a new line. Regulating immigration is solely a federal power, like foreign negotiations and trade, and has been since the founding of the Republic. I've never heard even the strictest of strict constructionists question that.
On April 24, 2014, Jason Kenney , Minister of Employment, announced that the FTWP had been suspended for the Food services industry.
Wow. When are you folks going to storm the Bastille, or is that only for Quebecers?
set the minimum H1B wage at 120% of the average wage in that area for that type of work and experience
Set it at 200% if you want. Laws are meaningless unless they're enforced. There are already anti-abuse provisions. When is the last time they were enforced?
What you want, by restricting immigration, is to maintain your unfair privilege.
Ok, and your point is?
And how do you get into a foreign country and live there? One of the most common ways is being invited to work there.
And for many years the US prohibited work visas precisely because they can be used by employers to drive down wages in a particular area or field.
Zuck, is that you?
in an efficient jobs market
You mean in fantasy land? "Efficient" markets rank right up there with frictionless surfaces.
This is a good decision. The current rules are rather inhumane.
Simple solution: eliminate the H-1B visa. A lot of whining and moaning about unfair or inhumane immigration policies (much of which I sympathize with) are the result of weird horse's ass visas like the H-1B. It's also not reasonable to say unemployed H-1B's have to leave the country. The fix is to return to the traditional approach to American immigration: get a green card. After that, and before becoming a naturalized citizen, about the only thing they can kick you out for is being convicted of a felony.
a lot of high quality IT people I know are gay
A lot of them don't know what their sexual orientation is, because they're unfamiliar with sex.
Easy solution: eliminate the H-1B program.
immigrants, and especially skilled immigrants, expand the economy
Your grasp of the situation has led you to answer the wrong question. Why should I care what the US GDP is? What matters to me is the US GDP per capita, and the distribution of income from that.
Actually, "the law" does allow a certain H1B to green card path, so yes, it's "what the law says".
We know what the law says. The reality, which often has little to do with legal details, is that the H-1B is primarily a guest worker program. That's how employer's use it, and if it wasn't primarily for guest workers, why have the H-1B visa at all? Get a green card and move on in. That's how other immigrants do it. Why should this case be any different? Oh, that's right, there is a critical shortage of technical workers. Also, I'm the Queen of England.
Most cities consider cars without tags to be a nuisance, and will tow them.
Off of private property, with no notification? That's still absurd. What next, they'll repaint your house and charge you through the nose for it if they don't like the color? Oh no, that's the HOA's job. HOA's are another thing we don't have around here, and I'm glad of it.
Despite what the neighborhood Nazis and their government cronies think, your neighborhood and your town won't turn into a slum because you're fixing up an unregistered car on your property, or paint your house an ugly color. I live in what's considered a pretty decent area, at least middle middle class. There is no problem fixing a car in your yard if it doesn't have plates. I have neighbors across the street who sometimes do it with trucks. I don't mean fake trucks like pickups, but delivery van size. I know people who keep construction equipment in their yards, including somebody up the street who has a house I could never hope to afford. None of it is a problem, the houses still sell for a kings ransom, it's not a nuisance to anyone, and nobody gives a damn.
. It's not a problem,
Imagine if this technology was available during the civil rights era. The Jim Crow laws would still be in place.
There are many reasons to use public transportation. Having to do it so the government doesn't track me like a criminal isn't one of those reasons.
Don't do this in California. They will tow your car right out of your driveway if they can see from the street that it does not have a license plate.
Wow, and I thought NY was a fascist state. What CA law justifies that? Around here, a car on private property needn't have any license plates, registration, or any such thing. If it's not on a public road it's not the government's business. I, and many people I know, have taken a junker to be fixed up or something, and only registered it, etc., after that was done. The only problem is neighbors who don't respect my cultural heritage as white trash. Do you think I should sue them on civil rights violations?
Only if you live in a city, for the most part. If you stop sucking off the teat of the Man and move out into the country there are no bullshit regulations like this.
Are you talking about those rural areas that get higher government subsidies per capita than the cities, and then crow about being rugged individualists?
Some people really need to live in another country for a while to understand what REAL civil rights violations are like.
The best way to get REAL civil rights violations, as you put it, is to passively accept the more minor ones. It's boiling the frog.