[ashconnor]

As a non-immigrant to the United States, I don't really buy into the idea that companies prefer H1B candidates purely for financial reasons. The H1B process is frankly a rigid, unreliable and time-consuming process.

It's hard for even Canadians and Mexicans to find jobs in the US and we have access to the supposedly easy to obtain TN visa. Australians too with E3.

I'm more inclined to believe that H1B workers have other benefits to employers such as longer tenure due to the restrictions of moving jobs.

Which in itself should be an argument for further liberalization say by giving I140 approved petitioners access to EADs.

[lupusreal]

> I'm more inclined to believe that H1B workers have other benefits to employers such as longer tenure due to the restrictions of moving jobs.

That is a financial motive. Companies don't want to pay the kind of compensation which would induce employees to be loyal to the company, and so they use H1B quasi-indentured servitude as a cheaper alternative.

[orochimaaru]

I’ve been on an H1B before, a long time back. Most companies do not want to deal with your immigration issues. Bigger enterprises have the resources. But the moment you get smaller, there isn’t a whole lot of patience or energy for that.

As an H1B I May have made marginally less than my peers who were not immigrationally challenged. But as promotions picked up I think that wasn’t an issue anymore.

The one thing I still have though is I’m never the squeaky wheel. Getting laid off on an H1B is brutal. So your tolerance for corporate bs and workplace toxicity is quite high.

[whaleofatw2022]

This last point is a big one.

I've seen more than one shop that would use contract houses as a way to 'paper over' their internal turnover issues.

After all, even if the internal resource at the body shop asks for and gets a transfer, they've got another body in to finish the contract.

Plus the fringe benefits. That h1b is a sword of damocles, contractor will work 6/10+ even if the main shop is doing 45 on average for engineers.

Which, doesn't get you better code typically, but it let's suits say people are working long hours to get the task done.

[bdangubic]

I don’t buy this and you should not be selling it :) if H1Bs worked 6/10+ while other employees did 45 all it would take is ONE of H1B’s to reach out to ONE hungry lawyer and the lawsuit will be plastered all over the MSM/Social Media/… the H1B gal/guy would go home to their country with a bag full of money :)

people here on HN (without any merit) make H1B program sound like farming jobs in Texas… too funny

[dazed_confused]

Crazy to think the people who come to US universities to obtain post-bachelor degrees are more qualified than those who didn't... This is purely anecdotal, but my experience at a top institution is that the majority of CS/ECE of MS and PhD programs are foreign students, and the H1B folks I worked with had these advanced degrees.

[orochimaaru]

I don’t think the issue is one of qualification. I think it is wage suppression. I mean if the H1B was a work permit to work anywhere in tech and you could leave without impacting your green card processing for another job - that MS/PhD folks would demand much higher $$.

[whaleofatw2022]

WITCH companies. Nuff said.

[gmueckl]

It doesn't quite work that way. H-1B employees need to have above average compensation or their field. This is part of the application process.

[simoncion]

> H-1B employees need to have above average compensation or their field.

In the past decade or so, I have personally worked with an H-1B in the SF Bay Area who was working a full-time software position advertised as requiring a Master's degree, but was making something like $120k/year.

"Must be making above the median pay for the position" might be the way it's SUPPOSED to work, but it's clear that it doesn't ALWAYS work that way.

[gmueckl]

How long ago was this? If it was long enough in the past, 120k might have been enough. If not, the employer simply broke the law.

[simoncion]

It was roughly fifteen years ago.

120k was not enough.

[Jcampuzano2]

Does that salary need to be above average at the time of hire, or throughout their entire tenure.

If its the prior then if an H-1B employee stays at a company for more than a few years it actually would come out to being cheaper overall, on top of them being more incentivized to just go with the flow and deal with any BS since their stay in the country depends on it. They have significantly less leverage than a US citizen to stay through grueling work conditions or toxic work environments.

[gmueckl]

I'm not a lawyer.

But as I understand it, this is checked during the visa application process. The visa expires after a few years and requires another application for an extension then. So at least every few years, the salary would have to be adjusted upwards to meet the visa requirements.

[ashconnor]

I think you're assuming that everyone has a price.

Also H1Bs can't also start their own businesses (at least before this rule). So that was another restriction.

[lupusreal]

> I think you're assuming that everyone has a price

Nope. They don't need it to work for every worker, they can't get every worker as a H1B either. It working for some workers makes it worth doing for businesses.