H-1B VISAS WOULD NOT BE EXTENDED UNDER TRUMP'S LATEST PROPOSAL, REPORTS SAY

[IronLionZion]

http://www.newsweek.com/h1-b-visas-would-not-be-extended-under-trumps-latest-proposal-reports-say-769363

Thousands of mostly Indian skilled workers with H-1B visas could be deported while they wait for their green cards to be granted under a proposal that President Donald Trump is reportedly considering.

The proposal is being drafted by Department of Homeland Security leaders and came from Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” initiative he promised on the campaign trail, sources told McClatchy DC.

Trump administration officials are examining whether they can come up with a new interpretation of the “may grant” language in the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act to block H-1B visa extensions. Thousands of immigrants, most of them Indian, currently can apply for H-1B visa extensions beyond the permitted two 3-year terms if they have green card applications in the system.

“The idea is to create a sort of ‘self-deportation’ of hundreds of thousands of Indian tech workers in the United States to open up those jobs for Americans,” a source who spoke with Homeland Security officials told McClatchy DC.

If the proposal passes, 500,000 to 750,000 Indian H-1B visa holders could be forced to leave the U.S., according to IndiaToday.in.

How many DUers have applied to client services contracting firms? Now's your chance. Update that resume and start applying.

[catrose]

1. But what about all his H-1B workers at Mar-a-Lago?

How could he possibly find hotel workers in Florida to fill their positions?

[VMA131Marine]

3. Trump doesn't use H-1B visa workers at Mar-a-Largo

I believe they are on H-2A's.

[catrose]

4. Thanks

I really couldn't imagine him doing something that would negatively affect him.

I knew they were overseas workers, but I didn't know all the gradations of visas.

[Igel]

2. The H-1B was the focus of special ire at one point.

It was a way of "bringing in" cheap, foreign labor that kept US-trained Americans from jobs.

(Leave aside that many H-1B visa holders are US graduates who trained here and then were employed here.)

A lot of H-1B job descriptions are worded badly. An employer once wanted to hire a specific person. So the job description was worded very, very strangely: "Must be fluent in Mandarin, English, and (a specific Chinese dialect), with pre-existing business relations with _______ company and the villages of __________ and ____________."

The owner nearly shit herself when the first person to apply for that job had those qualifications--he knew the varieties of Chinese required, was from the area, and had worked for that company before coming over to the US when his wife/mother/brother/whatever was naturalized. So she had to revise it.

"Must be fluent in Mandarin, English, and (a specific Chinese dialect), with pre-existing business relations with _______ company and the villages of __________ and ____________ in the last 3 months."

I mean, you're trying to pick one person out of a population of 1.1 billion, it gets dicey making the job description specific enough.

In my grad program there was a similar problem. They wanted a specific person and wrote the description in a way that netted them several candidates who were already in the US. But they wanted permission to get their guy not only to the head of the line, but in the green-card line. So they wound up having to add "must have been the department chair of at least one academic department at Moscow State University and at least one university in the Baltics during the 1970s." If anybody had dared to ask for justification, they'd have been screwed.

In both cases, that is explicitly *not* what the program is intended for.

And yet, as DUers and both my academic department and my former employer knew, that's what it's used for. Cheap labor, getting friends a green card. As soon as Trump was against it, those formerly against it became for it. It really sounds like they define themselves not in their own terms, but in terms of opposition. (Sorry, no can do. I yam what I yam.)

[RandySF]

7. Trump would turn Silicon Valley into a ghost town

[Jake Stern]

5. A broken clock is right twice a day

If the H1-B program hadn't been overwhelmingly used to screw over American workers in favor of cheaper foreign labor instead of as a tool to fill jobs where no American is available, I might share in the disdain for this move by Trump.

I could support, in theory, an H1-B type visa program but it would have to be revamped and re-written to put in safeguards to keep abuse to a minimum.

[RandySF]

6. How is Johnny with a high school diploma

Screwed out of a job as Neurologeon? How many Americans are lining up for farm jobs?

[IronLionZion]

9. There are jobs out there for blue collar skilled trades.

And there are jobs to replace the deported illegal immigrants doing farm work.

There are jobs to be had, and people who want those jobs. Something needs to put the two together.

Maybe they should raise wages

[RandySF]

10. Globalization and automation have already depressed wages

[IronLionZion]

11. "We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way"

Globalization and automation have less impact on plumbers, electricians, welders, home builders, and infrastructure construction work. Some farm crops have to be harvested by hand also.

And then there is the highly skilled types of manufacturing that requires a human touch and certain level of experience.

What sort of jobs do you think Johnny with his high school degree is going to get from Trump? Coal mining?

[Jake Stern]

12. Nice strawman there

How about the skilled American tech worker who, despite his education and experience, or because of it is shit canned so that a guy from India can take his job at half the pay?

The average diploma only worker might not feel the pinch so much but someone who went through college and advanced training certainly will.

Why throw farm workers in here? They don't work under H-1B visas and so are irrelevant to the topic.

[IronLionZion]

16. Do skilled American tech workers apply for jobs at contracting firms?

Because Americans like to say they worked at some company for 10 years and struggle to pay the mortgage on their house they've owned. Indian workers would have lived in apartments in 13 different US states in those 10 years supporting 20 different clients.

Wages are not nearly as important to companies as the ability to add and remove people quickly based on varying workload. Nontechnical companies don't care about their technical employees so they fire them and hire contractors on a temporary basis, few months at a time. They save way more money on getting rid of employees than by simply having lower wages.

I've listed the companies that hire the most H-1bs in the OP, how many have you applied to?

I've applied to around half of them, interviewed at 10, and worked for or teamed with 4 of them. I constantly get emails from headhunters for short term opportunities in rural red states with fewer technical workers available. Are you interested in that?

[tblue37]

13. American engineers can't compete with those from other countries (usually India for engineers)

who are willing to work for one-half, or in some cases even one-third, of the salary a trained American engineer would expect to be paid. That makes it hard for American engineers to find jobs, and it depresses the salaries available for all of them.

These corporations just want cheap labor, no matter how educated and skilled those workers are.

[IronLionZion]

8. Maybe some companies might use their massive tax cuts to raise wages

or provide on the job training or whatever it is they use as justification for using visa workers from other countries instead of Americans.

How many DUers ask the question of what exactly makes a foreign visa worker more appealing than an American worker? If it were wages, they would have to prove that they are paying the H-1b at least as much as an American with similar quals.

The law establishes certain standards in order to protect similarly employed U.S. workers from being adversely affected by the employment of the nonimmigrant workers, as well as to protect the H-1B nonimmigrant workers. Employers must attest to the Department of Labor that they will pay wages to the H-1B nonimmigrant workers that are at least equal to the actual wage paid by the employer to other workers with similar experience and qualifications for the job in question, or the prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of intended employment – whichever is greater.
https://www.dol.gov/whd/immigration/h1b.htm

Most of the companies that use this visa are services contracting firms that function like temp agencies with short term placements for a few months at a time at client companies. American workers prefer longer term employment. I certainly do.

How many DUers are excited to live the H-1b lifestyle? or are people still hoping that companies will start to value their employees more?

[lostnfound]

14. But EB5s for wealth are still allowed... nt

[IronLionZion]

15. They'll always help the job creators get more money

without actually creating many jobs