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United States Businesses Politics

Biden Lets Trump's H-1B Visa Ban Expire (cnet.com) 167

The H-1B visa ban introduced by President Donald Trump last year expired on Wednesday, with President Joe Biden allowing the rules to come to an end. From a report: In an update on Thursday, the US Department of State said visa applicants who were previously refused due to Trump's freeze may reapply by submitting a new application. Visa applicants who have not yet been interviewed will have their applications prioritized and processed under the State Department's phased resumption plan. The Trump administration in June 2020 stopped the government issuing H-1B visas through an an executive order linked to the coronavirus pandemic. In October, Trump then placed new restrictions on H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers -- rules that were struck down by a federal judge in December who said the administration failed to show "good cause" for issuing the rules on an emergency basis. Bloomberg adds: Biden's decision will please business groups from Silicon Valley giants to India's IT services leaders, which had pressured the administration to lift the ban ever since the new president took office. Executives have grown frustrated that the directive was not immediately revoked, arguing it hurt U.S. companies. American tech firms, from Facebook to Google, rely on foreign talent to shore up domestic workforces. Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services traditionally dispatch Indian software engineers to work in tandem with their American clients, which include some of the largest Wall Street banks and technology corporations. It remains unclear whether Biden will ease visa restrictions in general, reversing curbs imposed by the former Trump administration.
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Biden Lets Trump's H-1B Visa Ban Expire

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  • lets fix this part (Score:5, Insightful)

    by arbiter1 ( 1204146 ) on Friday April 02, 2021 @11:17AM (#61228500)
    "Biden's decision will please business groups from Silicon Valley giants to India's IT services leaders, which had pressured the administration to lift the ban ever since the new president took office. Executives have grown frustrated that the directive was not immediately revoked, arguing it hurt U.S. companies cause they didn't like paying US workers fare wages for which they can bring in a foreign worker from india to replace them for pennies on the dollar." That is more correct.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • The lawyer fees are mostly fixed because they do this in bulk. If all of a sudden you were able to remove H1Bs from the US labor market everyone else's salaries would at least double or triple.
  • by 140Mandak262Jamuna ( 970587 ) on Friday April 02, 2021 @11:21AM (#61228520) Journal
    The problem is not with the H1-B visa program per se. Nor with the raison d'etre for it.

    The root cause of the problem, the loop hole that allows Indian IT companies to ship thousands of ill educated sub-standard programmers to USA is this: USA recognizes all degrees from India as though they are the equivalent of US college degrees. But sayin ALL graduates from St Mary's College of Engineering, Middle of Nowhere, Some State, India are equal to the graduates from UCLA or MIT is just bonkers.

    There are very good colleges and institutions in India. There are excellent graduates from less known and less reputable institutions too. All we need to do is to make them pass a minimal qualification exam in the IT field.

    Of course the examn will be immediately gamed and people will coached for the examn. Despite that having a minimal qualification examn for ALL applicants from ALL the countries will be a good idea. It can't called discriminatory if both Europeans, Chinese, Indians and Japanese are required to take the same examn to qualify for a skill based employment visa.

    This examn need not be in the latest language or skill that is in fashion. Basic AP in programming level examn is enough. Of course, all degree holders from US accredited institutions should be granted exemption. This will clean up the mess to a large extent.

    • Why can't the companies decide wether it's worth it to hire someone who graduated in India instead of MIT?

      • by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Friday April 02, 2021 @11:41AM (#61228612) Homepage Journal

        > Why can't the companies decide wether it's worth it to hire someone who graduated in India instead of MIT?

        Your question has a technical answer - because MBA's and HR folks do the hiring with little input from the IT or CS people at large corporations.

        If you believe in government having any say in the matter, then they should recognize that in many cases qualified Americans are out-competed on price for jobs at American corporations. A secondary arugment is that having unqualified programmers work on American infrastructure has national security implications that get paid for downstream by everybody.

        By all means, get government out of the way, but that also involves revoking all permanent corporate charters. I'd take it, but on the other hand career judges are incentivized to allow most cases when they should be throwing them out, so they maintain their jobs with less controversy, and the corporate shield may be necessary given a judicial branch run amok.

        It's complex, but pensions for judges lead to a lack of programmer jobs.

      • the same reason it always is, because middle management would happily mortgage their company's future for a good Q1 FY21.
      • by Entrope ( 68843 ) on Friday April 02, 2021 @11:48AM (#61228644) Homepage

        Employers can decide that. The question is whether the US government lets an employee enter the US specifically because of that decision.

        Unfortunately, an H-1B visa is employer-specific -- the employee cannot easily change jobs within the US, because a prospective new employer would need to secure a new H-1B visa for the worker. This tends to suppress wages for H-1B workers even more than would be the case otherwise.

        • Employers can decide that. The question is whether the US government lets an employee enter the US specifically because of that decision.

          Unfortunately, an H-1B visa is employer-specific -- the employee cannot easily change jobs within the US, because a prospective new employer would need to secure a new H-1B visa for the worker. This tends to suppress wages for H-1B workers even more than would be the case otherwise.

          It suppresses wages for all IT workers, because companies have a labor source cheaper than U.S. Workers, and the average wage is lowered

    • The problem is not with the H1-B visa program per se. Nor with the raison d'etre for it.

      I would say wrong on both counts.
      The free market should produce more IT workers if there is a shortage by increasing wages.
      The H1B program keeps salaries for IT workers permanently artificially low.
      Some argue that this creates more senior level positions for U.S. workers, but it doesn't. Without the entry-level experience, developers can't get to be team leads, senior developers, etc. That's why so many middle management positions in IT are held by H1B and former H1B workers.

    • This examn need not be in the latest language or skill that is in fashion. Basic AP in programming level examn is enough. Of course, all degree holders from US accredited institutions should be granted exemption. This will clean up the mess to a large extent.

      Another possible solution is to have foreign educational institutions apply for some kind of accreditation from some global body that shares accreditation with American institutions.

      Another solution - require hires to have certifications. Perhaps even a global worker's union that issues the certification.

      That creates a new problem, however, when top talent is needed when dealing with bleeding edge technologies. There's no exam or certificate for technologies that were slapped together last week.

      Forcing deve

    • by fermion ( 181285 )
      So the assumption here is that all IS universities are better than non-US universities? Because no matter what you are looking at where the degree is from on a new hire, not just the degree.

      I mean, take an elite Ivy League school. Is the graduate actually qualified, or did their parents buy the degree? At least with some city college you know the kid earned it. I know of too many parents who bought thier kids diploma from an elite private high school to trust them.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      What university did you go to where they spell exam like that?

  • by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Friday April 02, 2021 @11:31AM (#61228568)

    Trump revised the rules to make it more difficult to hire H1B workers instead of qualified Americans.

    The headline is indicative of the The Sovietization of the American Press [substack.com]

    • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday April 02, 2021 @12:57PM (#61229028)

      Trump revised the rules to make it more difficult to hire H1B workers instead of qualified Americans.

      The headline is indicative of the The Sovietization of the American Press [substack.com]

      Err no. Trump put an outright blanket suspension on green cards, H1B, L1 and J Visas. Just a flat blanket ban for a period of time. He even extended that ban once.

      It is unfortunate for you people who constantly try to reinvent history that history is so well documented and easily searchable these days.

    • Inaccurate. Trump's executive order froze green cards for new immigrants and suspended any new H1B visas from being issued.

  • by nomadic ( 141991 )

    Both sides are wrong about H-1B visas. There is a lot of abuse, but they really are necessary to fill positions where there is a shortage of candidates, and no, if you have 1000 American wastewater system engineers but need 2000 wastewater system engineers, "just raise salaries" doesn't magically create more of them.

    • Both sides are wrong about H-1B visas. There is a lot of abuse, but they really are necessary to fill positions where there is a shortage of candidates, and no, if you have 1000 American wastewater system engineers but need 2000 wastewater system engineers, "just raise salaries" doesn't magically create more of them.

      Sure it does. People train for the jobs that pay the most, assuming they can reasonably get the job.

      • by kqs ( 1038910 )

        Sure it does. People train for the jobs that pay the most, assuming they can reasonably get the job.

        And what is more American than thinking that all workers with the same training are interchangable, replacable cogs, with noboby better than anyone else?

        (This belief is held by libertarians, so by definition it cannot possibly be socialist! QED)

        Yes, this is half a joke. Only half because it's also far too true.

        • Well one thing is for sure, kids coming out of high school aren't going to train for industries that will treat them poorly for mediocre pay.
  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday April 02, 2021 @11:56AM (#61228678)
    I know a lot of other tech guys and none of their companies had any issues getting as many H1-Bs as they wanted before, during or after the visa ban.

    What I did see was that the paper work was so screwed up that a few folks got sent home because their renewals weren't approved, but they weren't replaced with local talent, it was another H1-B.

    Not that I'm happy about this, but give that Biden is right of center at best this is what I expected. At least we're getting a real stimulus [fark.com] out of him (near as I can tell all of the $1.9 trillion is going to people and not corporations, in as much as it can ever do that). Plus he's moving to have Iran take over our role in Afghanistan (go look up Beau of the Fifth Column on YouTube if you want to understand why that's a good thing, he'll explain it better than I ever could).

    So compromises. I don't seem to have lost anything that wasn't lip service and I've gained a bit.
    • by bsane ( 148894 )

      The places that are H1-B heavy are just stacking bodies and/or looking for slave labor. Obviously there are some _extremely well qualified_ H1-Bs that are above me in education and talent, but those the exception.

      If management is looking for their best ROI and not body count, then the average H1-B doesn't affect me directly, although they probably do have a general impact on salaries. I don't particularly want to work for places that abuse the H1-B system again anyway.

      • more bodies mean depressed wages in the jobs H1-Bs take. That in turn means more people gunning for you job.

        Sure, not every American who loses a job to an H1-B can do what you do, but a few will bust their asses and get the training and education to do it because the alternative will be a drastic reduction in their quality of life (up to and including homelessness).

        Bosses will see more folk trying to get jobs like yours and look to cut your pay and benefits. Maybe they'll do it directly when the nex
  • H1-B abuse (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mveloso ( 325617 ) on Friday April 02, 2021 @12:10PM (#61228768)

    Only large companies abuse H1-B visas, because they're the only ones who can afford to.

    They're also the ones who don't need the H1-B visas, because they're not doing anything that's bleeding-edge enough that they can only find people overseas.

  • Like China Joe told us six months ago?
  • by couchslug ( 175151 ) on Friday April 02, 2021 @01:51PM (#61229258)

    Either be better than the competition or find another job with a much higher barrier to entry.

    Barriers to entry and anything else offering the protections of exclusivity are the only real protections for workers.

    Current moral fashion requires Americans to renounce every advantage of nationality in favor of giving all we have to the rest of the world while suppressing domestic wages. This will not change for the better so save yourself as best you may, hoard wealth, scramble for advantage, seek government employment (vested benefit retirement is dead elsewhere and not coming back), and Cthulhu take the hindmost.

    Your fellow Americans are too busy selling out to care what happens to you or hallucinate our world is a meritocracy.

Marvelous! The super-user's going to boot me! What a finely tuned response to the situation!

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