
Trump May Attempt to Force Long-Time H-1B Visa Holders Out of U.S. - carfacts
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2020/06/25/trump-may-attempt-to-force-long-time-h-1b-visa-holders-out-of-us/#2a8d1573ce5c
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Barrin92
It's quite astonishing to see the US actively reject the people and the talent
that other countries would be taking with open arms. Indian and Chinese
immigrants in particular in tech constitute a large part of the workforce and
the former increasingly in leadership too.

With the rapidly developing national sectors in India and China and the
increasing racism and deteriorating condition this could very well the point
at which many people consider to actually go home. What could have been
decades of comfortable technological lead for the US may evaporate within a
decade or two if human talent is rejected like this. Crazy to see a nation do
this to itself honestly.

~~~
cachestash
Trump has no use for smart or brown skinned people, neither group would ever
vote for him.

~~~
pnako
What do you mean exactly by "brown" people? Who do you include in that
category?

~~~
0xdeadb00f
Anyone who is non-white, I assume.

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throw98226
This is a huge benefit to Canada!

[https://theprovince.com/technology/shopify-poach-foreign-
tal...](https://theprovince.com/technology/shopify-poach-foreign-talent-
blocked-trump-immigrant-visa-ban/wcm/6f7663d0-e938-450c-9716-d2f125218c72)

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rayiner
Folks need to understand the context in which all this is happening. This
isn’t just about what policies we should have for high-skill immigration. It’s
the product of decades of administrations ignoring the immigration laws that
we have.

In other countries, the legislature votes on immigration policies and those
policies are implemented. Canada decides to have high-skill immigration
through a point-based process and the executive implemented those policies.
That’s not what we do in the US. We formulate immigration policy through
executive fiat and bureaucratic practice. In the US, the H1 program _is not a
high-skill immigration program._ We don’t have one. The Wikipedia article
covers this well:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa)

> An H-1B visa allows an individual to enter the United States to
> _temporarily_ work at an employer in a specialty occupation.

[https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/immigration/h1b](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/immigration/h1b)

> The H-1B program applies to employers seeking to hire _nonimmigrant aliens_
> as workers in specialty occupations or as fashion models of distinguished
> merit and ability

The Immigration and Naturalization Act that created the H1-B program was
billed to voters as creating a temporary immigration status, not a vector for
permanent immigration. It has _turned into_ a de-facto permanent immigration
visa not by law, but by executive practice.

My family (my parents and I, then later my uncle and aunt and their two adult
kids) came here on an H1B visa. I’m a proponent of skilled immigration. But
viewing this as just a debate over immigration policy (or worse, just an
artifact of Trump racism) is deeply misleading. We’re a country founded on the
rule of law. But for decades, we’ve ignored our ordinary legislative processes
when it comes to immigration policies. That’s not right, that’s not how
Democracy is supposed to work, and it’s hard for me to blame people who are
simply demanding that our existing laws be enforced. At the same time, yes,
it’s unfair to people who came here on H1-B thinking it was a route to
permanent residency. Maybe if proponents of skilled immigration had actually
done the work and actually gotten legislation passed creating a permanent
immigration program for skilled workers, we wouldn’t in this mess today.

~~~
specialist
What reforms do you advocate? Is there model legislation?

I've worked and lived along side immigrants my entire life. From what little I
know, it's just nutty. (My childhood church helped refugees get resettled and
established. Working in tech, a huge fraction of my coworkers were born
elsewhere.)

While I'm very pro immigration, maybe even open borders, I understand it'd
have to be thought out. But I have no idea what a better system would look
like, what to fight for.

~~~
rayiner
I’d support Canada’s point-based system. But really, we just need to
_something_. Right now, we don’t have _any_ system for skilled immigration.

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wiseleo
In related news[1], 13400 immigration workers will be furloughed.

He’s good at causing chaos. :(

[1][https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/07/02/poli...](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/07/02/politics/uscis-
mass-furloughs-pandemic/index.html)

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badrabbit
Most of my team will be affected by this. We are considering changing location
of our offices among other options. So, even though I and a few others are
americans,Trump's insanity on this will affect us directly.

It's not like there are American workers lined up to do the job h1b workers
do. America will lose the demand for skilled labor permanently with this along
with a largr chunk of what little supporting skilled workforce exists.

I will be honest with you, I like living in america with all it's problems.

Do you guys suggest a better country for relocation? Canada is all I can think
of but it's so cold!

I fully support giving h1b holders a green card once trump is gone.

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bediger4000
Gosh, will major tech companies allow this to happen without an impossible-to-
resist lobbying effort?

This would make US citizens who are developers and SREs and system admins
almost impossibly valuable, wouldn't it?

~~~
padiyar83
This will also incentivize firms to consider running teams from countries like
Ireland, Canada (less restricted on immigration) and India (labor rich). It's
also a shot in the arm for remote "work from anywhere".

Higher the wage in US, greater the incentive for a firm to do these things.

~~~
dehrmann
It's hard to say how long Silicon Valley can be an economic diver without
immigrant talent, especially if that talent concentrates elsewhere.

A lot of that talent originally came to the US for an education, and those
numbers leveled off when Trump was elected. Most of the foreign student growth
was also from China, which I'd expect to see drip in the next decade
regardless of who wins in November.

[https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_4_usher_fig01...](https://www.educationnext.org/files/ednext_XIX_4_usher_fig01-small.png)

Because of the education angle, I doubt Ireland will be a winner, but the UK
might be, Canada, and Australia look promising.

