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IronLionZion

(45,162 posts)
Mon Feb 11, 2019, 08:30 AM Feb 2019

Trump's H-1B work visa plan cuts employers' costs, not criticism

https://searchhrsoftware.techtarget.com/news/252457168/Trumps-H-1B-work-visa-plan-cuts-employers-costs-not-criticism

President Trump, a critic of the H-1B visa program, has implemented a rule change that will reduce the visa filing cost for employers. But it may also make visa holders more expensive.

President Trump's effort to restrict H-1B work visas has taken a rare turn. His administration is cutting the cost of filing for a visa and is making it easier for a firm to file for a visa. It's doing this with an electronic registration system.

This new registration system, which will begin in the 2021 fiscal year, means an employer will be able to register a visa candidate in a visa lottery "without submitting a completed [visa] package," said Shanon Stevenson, an immigration attorney at Fisher Phillips. This new process is "going to save employers time and money because they're not going to have to submit an H-1B petition for someone who isn't selected in the lottery," she said.

The administration's registration plan will help HR departments save "a lot of wasted time and effort," said Becki Young, an immigration attorney at Grossman Young & Hammond. Companies today now put together thousands of visa petitions "which never even get looked at," she said.

The electronic registration system is not the only change the White House is making to the H-1B work visa. It is also reordering the visa lottery system to favor people who have earned a U.S. master's or higher degree, a change that will take effect for this year's H-1B work visa lottery. But this change is more in line with Trump's efforts to restrict visa use. In its recently published rule change, the administration said it may help raise the wages of H-1B workers.


America first? Or the wealthy corporate executives first, workers last?
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Recursion

(56,582 posts)
1. H1-B's have to make at least $65K (and usually a good deal more). By definition
Mon Feb 11, 2019, 09:29 AM
Feb 2019

they are competing with the richest 15% of the American workforce. That's fine with me. The requirement for a Master's degree means their required wage will go up (the Labor Department has a big table that says "software engineer, master's degree, Santa Clara County: $175K minimum" or whatever).

Somehow, ordinary Americans have been persuaded that H1-Bs are working for $10 an hour in basic IT jobs, which is not what's happening here.

IronLionZion

(45,162 posts)
2. Corporate executives promote the myth of the low-paid H-1B stealing jobs from Americans
Mon Feb 11, 2019, 10:45 AM
Feb 2019

as a way to threaten American workers with layoffs and keep them afraid and willing to take less in wages and benefits.

For IT services, and some similar fields like financial analysis, accounting, and other back office operations, the real culprit is contracting. Companies outsource these jobs to services contracting firms. Americans don't like contracting and won't even apply for these jobs because it's a difficult way to live. Replacing long term employees with disposable contractors is what saves money in training and retention and retirement and other benefits, not wages.

Most contractors are paid higher wages than comparable employees because it wouldn't be worth it otherwise. Many entry-level H-1B contractors (without advanced degrees or experience) rent apartments with lots of roommates and no furniture because they relocate frequently and can save money on lease breakage, not because they don't get paid enough. It's a choice, because when their company sends them to the next city for their next contract assignment, they can just pack up their stuff to ship easily and hop on a plane. The ones with spouse/kids will often own a house somewhere in a good public school district but spend time separated from their family during the week for work.

I am all in favor of pathway to citizenship for those workers who want to become Americans. Americans won't put up with many of the working conditions that H-1Bs put up with.

Recursion

(56,582 posts)
3. Mitt Romney said exactly one correct thing in the 2012 campaign
Mon Feb 11, 2019, 10:57 AM
Feb 2019

"We should be handing out green cards to foreign students at graduations"

That would render the whole H1-B issue moot there.

IronLionZion

(45,162 posts)
5. I agree, plus he was right about Russia
Mon Feb 11, 2019, 11:27 AM
Feb 2019

America has excellent universities that bring students from around the world. It's a waste to not keep the graduates in our country.

Demsrule86

(68,217 posts)
4. It is not a myth. I saw and an entire floor of Sprint...thousands of workers ...replaced by HIB
Mon Feb 11, 2019, 11:24 AM
Feb 2019

Visa holders in Atlanta. And many were forced to train them. I saw this...HIB is a terrible idea.

IronLionZion

(45,162 posts)
6. I'm sure the Sprint executives did just fine
Mon Feb 11, 2019, 11:30 AM
Feb 2019

while they screwed their employees and easily discarded them. Companies replace employees with disposable contractors, that's the problem. American workers can apply for jobs through whatever services companies Sprint has contracted.

Demsrule86

(68,217 posts)
8. Of course they did...and I would add that a friend who works for HP told me there were quotas...so
Mon Feb 11, 2019, 12:37 PM
Feb 2019

many American worker must be laid off for one laid off foreign worker-mostly Indian...IT has been decimated with H1B visa bullshit. The companies get lower paid workers who don't need benefits and can be threatened with deportation if they don't do exactly what the boss wants at all times.

IronLionZion

(45,162 posts)
9. Trump has reduced the number of entry level H-1Bs
Mon Feb 11, 2019, 12:53 PM
Feb 2019

which is where a lot of the IT contracting has been replacing employees. It should open more jobs for Americans to get started in IT careers after college, or even with certifications. The reforms have made the H-1B visa more top heavy to favor people with masters or PhD/MD degrees.

I really hate the stereotype of Indian workers stealing IT jobs, as it's something I've had to deal with my whole life. They should limit how many can be used for IT jobs where Americans are willing and able to do the work. IT jobs should be Americans first.

There are H-1Bs who are school teachers and doctors in many under-served rural or inner city areas, for example. We could use more of that. There's at least one former H-1B serving in the US Congress right now.

Demsrule86

(68,217 posts)
10. In IT , often it is Indian workers. We are entering a job crisis in this country and something will
Mon Feb 11, 2019, 01:02 PM
Feb 2019

have to be done to address this. The H1B visa system is broken.

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