[twsttest]

The US allows over 1 million immigrants per year. Maybe less the past year, but still extremely high on an immigrant per capita basis.

H1B was being abused and needed to be reigned in.

There are still plenty of people coming into the country through various means, the US is still extremely generous with immigration.

There are plenty of qualified citizens here and in the zero sum game that is hiring national immigration policy should put their needs first before anyone else's.

[cr1895]

>the US is still extremely generous with immigration.

Everything I read about it convinces me it's a byzantine and capricious process, and largely down to chance.

My process of gaining permanent residence in the Netherlands is a cakewalk by comparison. University MSc, then free access to the job market for a year, then after some years of employment and passing a relatively simple integration exam, I have long-term European residence. At no point was this up to the arbitrary whims of some immigration officer or a far-fetched lottery chance.

To me the idea that immigration is zero sum is repugnant and wrong.

[twsttest]

There are hundreds of millions of people who want to come into the US each year. It's inevitably going to be a difficult process.

[Forgeties79]

Probably wasn’t as expensive either. My buddy had to spend roughly $6k to become a citizen. Absolutely ludicrous.

[gnulinux]

> the US is still extremely generous with immigration.

US is the WORST country on earth for immigration. I came to US >10 years ago, still NOWHERE near getting a Green Card. Will probably won't get well into my 30s or 40s. It's practically impossible to get it in the next 5 years.

The same time I started undergrad in US, my friend started undergrad in Germany. He was already a German citizen by the time we were working. I was still on F visa. This was like half a decade ago.

My biggest regret EVER was doing this in the US. If I got a PhD in Europe instead of US, I wouldn't be a person who doesn't have a country.

I understand that American people don't want immigrants. But let's not pretend immigration into US is easy. I've been trying my entire life to live here without getting kicked out and it's pure luck. One mistake and you need to wrap your entire life, leave loved ones and go back home. Again, I'm NOT saying I'm entitled to living in the US, I'm saying this is an extremely long, and complex process.

[riyakhanna1983]

Could the waiting be attributed to your country of citizenship? I know there's a long wait for citizens of a few countries because there are per-country limits on green cards.

[gnulinux]

Nope, I'm not from China or India (so I'm in the global pool). If you're from India, it's impossible to get citizenship this way (the waitlist is too long), you need to marry a US citizen if you want citizenship.

[sg47]

+1 to what you said. 18 years for me and no permanent residency in sight. I'd have been a citizen a few times over in any other country.

[ilikehurdles]

That's horrible. I have several friends from different origin countries (including USA) who have received Swiss citizenships (which the American right wing holds up as some sort of uber-restrictive standard) in half that time.

[vinay427]

The time to naturalize in Switzerland is now 10 years (it used to be a bit longer) unless married to a Swiss citizen, in which case it's shorter. Include that plus the processing time and assuming your friends were in one of the right residence status categories during their entire time in Switzerland, it would have taken them at least 11 years or so.

[ilikehurdles]

> There are plenty of qualified citizens here and in the zero sum game that is hiring national immigration policy should put their needs first before anyone else's.

This exact sort of anti-competitive nationalism has been tried before, and over and over again it has been abandoned. It's a failed policy that gives other countries a competitive advantage over your own.

It's better to learn from others' mistakes than to repeat them yourself.

[curiousllama]

Could you point out those various means to me? Forgive me if that sounds rhetorical, but I'm serious - it would be life changing for some close friends. I only ask because as far as I'm aware, the only available option right now is marriage.

[Bhilai]

> H1B was being abused and needed to be reigned in.

Nothing has been reigned in. H1B quota got full early on this year and H1bs were allotted through a lottery of qualified candidates. Transfers are still being allowed. If your argument is that H1B gets abused then right way is to pass a reasonable bill and not blanket ban everything.

Yet again, F1 visa already prohibit students a 100% online school from entering the country. So your impression of immigration being "reigned in" is pretty misguided.

[the_svd_doctor]

It's important to realize that most of immigration (i.e., green cards) is family based (with marriage being first) and not employment based.

[Forgeties79]

On what planet is the US’s immigration policy “extremely generous”? Have you experienced it? The costs and hoops and sheer years it takes?

[anon102010]

And yet despite bi-partisan legislation to reform H1B we get this stupidity.

It's going to be good to vote this cycle.

[screenbeam]

Agreed

[conanbatt]

H1B abuse doesn't exist. It's made up. You multiply the quota by 100x and it wouldn't exist as a concept, same as J1 nanny visas being abused doesn't exist.

[anon102010]

It does exist, but would be easy to fix.

[conanbatt]

The fix is the problem.

Even if you are anti-immigration, your biggest issue should be tourist visas which is how illegal immigrants stay in the US, and those are unlimited and in the millions. H1B quotas are stupid by design.