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As a white Christian male in tech, I can confirm that I’ve been passed over for work in lieu of “people of color” and women. If you’ve ever been interviewed by a big tech company, you are entitled to a Data Subject Request (DSR), and they are required to provide it to you. Turns out one of mine had notes from interviewers who went so far as to say, “More than qualified, but white.”
How would you read that?
And still nobody’s talking about Big Med’s use of H1Bs...
Go figure.
To those who haven’t: Take your brains out of neutral. You’re being played.
Sundance is off the mark here.
Vivek and Musk, if you look at what they are actually advocating, are not even close to advocating H1B fraud.
Vivek had advocated for reform of the H1B system before this election. Elon Musk is advocating for bringing in the best talent on the planet, as we have always done.
Who else has had it with corporate “call centers” , Silicon Valley(aka Google and Facebook), and Vivek’s big mouth?
I wonder how much of of Elon Musk’s and Vivek Ramaswamy’s vast fortunes are essentially blood money taken from displaced American workers.
Regarding Vivek’s claim that they need H-1B visas because of problems of American culture, well I can say that they are actually creating the very problem with the culture that they claim H-1B visas are required to fix. In particular, importing hordes of foreign born engineers depresses the prestige (and earning power) of the engineering profession and thereby discourages American born students from pursuing those studies in college.
American students turning away from engineering are not being “lazy” or “dumb” as Vivek claims. They are being practical in response to a problem created by the H-1B visa program.
The H-1B program needs to be absolutely destroyed and fully burned to the ground.
later
A quality technical education spans an entire childhood. You just don't scab it over with four years of college and get the facility and perspective that is needed, building those dendritic connections while the brain is still at its most plastic developmental capability. Hence, when I home educated my daughters, they were doing college calculus by 12, self-taught.
In this case, I'm afraid it's more than that. Musk et al. know what it takes to win in the technical race they must win or die. They know what winning that race means to America, which is also a win or die competition. They are habituated to that pressure, doing what it takes to win. Yes, they got rich. But I don't seen an exodus of workers from SpaceX; I see real enthusiasm in that control room.
So this is more complicated than simply "more-for-less." They'll pay what it costs to get what they need... to win. I really don't think either Elon or Vivek is so stupid as to fail to anticipate the backlash they're getting. They're telling us what that takes to win in this global marketplace for skilled labor. So I see this as a sad reality, which is why I think they were willing to bring it up at all.
I like to post directly to those who I think are doing good - and those who are doing bad - if we just keep it among ourselves, it isn’t activism, it’s a hen party....
@elonmusk @VivekGRamaswamy
“This is a jaw-dropping moment to watch unfold as a very influential sector of the political discourse begins a full-frontal attack against those who are pointing out how the tech community abuse H1B visas to replace American workers.”
Some of them don’t even have to be hunted down - they’re pouring out of the woodwork like roaches...
We have your backs, guys😎
Someone recently suggested an H-1B auction program based on salary.
Bids for say a month would have to be submitted 14-20 days prior.
The FICA would have to be pre-paid for 210 weeks’ worth of salary (to block businesspeople from importing relatives).
Microsoft (USCIS FICA prepay account number:0002):
Sam Mumbai, $3,217/week,
....
Google (USCIS FICA prepay account number:0007):
Wang Kwok, $3,136/week,
....
The program might initially start with an allotment of 10,000 openings.
The cutoff for January’s 10,000 winners might turn out to be say $2,713/week.
If the cutoff rises, then the number of openings might be increased by 100 for the following month. If the cutoff falls, then the number of openings might be decreased by 100 for the following month. This would make the system demand responsive.
The person must have at least a four-year degree in a statutorily specified subject from a Secretary of Homeland Security list of selected, respected educational institutions.
The bidder must have paid FICA in excess of $50,000 for the penultimate year per winner (to block out scammers).
There would be no requirement beyond common sense to seek domestic talent (as the idea that no domestic person can be found to do a lawful high-tech job is ridiculous).
There would be a $5,000 USCIS fee per winner. This would encourage paying for a search for domestic talent.
A subsequent employer of a person would have to have a subsequent winning bid for the person.
Allowing an imported person to find a better employer would discourage employer abuse of imported employees.
The previous employer would have a qualified (subject to then current law) right to import a replacement person at the bid salary or higher if the person left within the first 52 weeks.
The previous employer could cancel the right and request a refund of the unused FICA prepayment, which would be issued around February of the following year.
After four years of salary payment at the person’s initial winning bid level or higher, the H-1B person could then be awarded permanent residence subject to the law in effect at the time.
A similar system might be created for visa-holding college graduates but based on wages to be paid on time clock hours, with a 35-hour minimum pay guarantee.
I have a reform of the H1B visa I would propose.
1. Take it 100% out of the hands of the employers, do not issue H1B visa applications to employers for employers to provide for their selected foreigners.
2. Issue X number of H1B Visa applications possible for the year, directly to the foreign individuals who want to apply for them, with the number adjusted each year as the needs of the country change.
3. Applicants apply in their home country, with some countries, for national security reasons, excluded. They do not apply because some company wants them to. They apply on their own. Once the X number of applications have been accepted there are no more till the following year.
4. The visa gives the recipient one year to come to the U.S. and find a job in the job categpry for which they obtained the H1B Visa. They must be accepted for such a job within that year or the visa expires. If accepted in such a job within the year the visa is extended for the legally defined H1B visa period.
5. The H!B visa holder is not beholden to any employer. As long as they remain employed and employed in the job category for which the H!B visa was granted, for the H!B visa period, the visa remains valid. In other words, they can change their employer because they want to change their employer, no matter what a current employer, on their H1B visa, thinks.
By this reform, companies cannot rig the labor market for below market wages for H1B visa holders. The H1B visa holders simply add folks to the domestic job market, not a particular employer’s group of employees. They can get the prevailing wage, do not have to accept a job for less.
The H1B visa will quit depressing U.S. wages for U.S. citizens and legal residents alike. Employers will not have a wage-advantage by hiring an H1B visa holder, because the H1B visa holder is not beholden to the employer, they are on their own, and they can learn, as anyone can, what their real worth is on the U.S. open job market.
This is not SiliconValley issue. All Pacific coast companies are just as corrupt. Check out phone and oil companies — I worked with them years ago and they were frantic to get rid of US citizens on their payrolls.
I’m woefully ignorant on this topic...I assumed that the biggest sector was tech and hospitality. I know of several resorts that use the H1B system. That doesn’t seem right as hospitality jobs are very trainable and mainly entry level. Most tech jobs are not and require a certain skill level. That being said the first comment on the article seems sound...PAUSE all immigration until someone can clearly understand and articulate what is going on. Then step by step prioritize and implement.
Big accounts that disagreed with him openly got their blue verification badges removed, some accounts deleted. Appears most were restored this morning after Elon's temper tantrum, but still...
Yawn. Lotsa people contributing to the panic frenzy. Peoples’ opinions don’t make it so.
