Worker visas in doubt as Trump immigration crackdown widens

Associated Press ^ | 25 Feb 2019 | Matt Sedensky

[Wuli]

“Immigrants with specialized skills”

I would venture to suggest that if all the details of all the H1B cases could be fairly examined, the majority of H1B applications would be denied as scams to avoid hiring an applicant from the open U.S. job market, either to avoid paying U.S. domestic wages or just to bring in someone already hand picked from overseas by the company applying for the H1B.

[gaijin]

He's smart. She's pretty. I GET IT.

THEY HAVE TO GO.

I love Trump but EVERYTHING he has done that bugs me come from THIS pair.

Trump isn't fine, he's GREAT.

This pair is like the poo trailing from a nice golfish.

BANISH the poo.

[Vigilanteman]

The other interesting side effect was that industries in Japan with a high concentration of foreign workers raised the prevailing wage of the industry and attracted more Japanese into the field.

For example, when I first went there in 1988, your security traders who worked the exchanges especially in the American and European time zones were mainly Europeans and Americans.

It was very much a niche market as few Japanese investors were all that interested and fewer Japanese business school graduates were interested in working for a Goldman Sachs when more stable jobs were available with a big marquee Japanese company.

The high compensation package in the field changed all that. Even with a shrinking population overall, the Japanese dominate this industry today. In the late 1980s, you could get hired as a foreigner with just a little better skillset than the average bear in the industry; today it has to be way better.

[Zhang Fei]

[The high compensation package in the field changed all that. Even with a shrinking population overall, the Japanese dominate this industry today. In the late 1980s, you could get hired as a foreigner with just a little better skillset than the average bear in the industry; today it has to be way better.]

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Any idea why Japan is an also-ran in global finance? Last I looked, both banks and brokerages are bottom of the barrel in terms of profits, whether Nomura or Mitsubishi Bank (or whatever mashup name exists this year).

[Georgia Girl 2]

We have whole subdivisions in N Atlanta filled with Indians. They force everyone else out until they have their own enclave. They all work in the tech industry doing the jobs Americans just aren’t smart enough to do.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Can they find U.S. Citizens who are qualified to take full-time jobs as architects? Unquestionably the answer is yes.

Can they find one to go to Minot, North Dakota to take a three month contract gig for 30% below the going market rate? The answer is almost certainly no.

[Vigilanteman]

The Japanese are highly risk adverse by nature. One of the reasons they are one of the best customers for T-Bills and other government debt. Not to mention better grade corporate debt and stuff like real estate.

Couple that with an economy where most prices have changed little in the last couple of decades and banks are happy with very modest returns.

Not just banks. My daughter's in-laws (Japanese) own a substantial car dealership in one of Japan's provincial cities. The profits their dealership makes on selling brand name new vehicles is next to nothing, but it brings in people to trade in used cars, service and sales of insurance, where the real money is made.

[Svartalfiar]

Better idea: charge for the visas. Have a "visa tariff".

If a worker visa cost $30K per worker per year, we would suddenly see employers taking another look at hiring American citizens.

This is a great idea. Or, you can make it 10-30% of the average wage for the field/position hired. Minimum $10k. So the big high-dollar jobs have a scaled visa charge.

[kearnyirish2]

That’s interesting; it seems most developed countries protect their workers better than we do. As I understand it, Canada makes it hard for foreigners to legally take Canadian jobs.

[kearnyirish2]

Here in NJ they didn’t have to force anyone out of the housing; once the American workers were let go, they couldn’t afford it anymore anyway (and the Indians moved right in - replacing them in the workforce AND neighborhood).

[Vigilanteman]

Yeah, my brother had a THREE MONTH gig in Canada once. It took longer than that to get a visa.

Another friend of ours spoke fluent German and had a good job offer in Austria. It was so complicated to get a visa both she and the company eventually gave up.

Japan wasn't too bad, though it seemed complicated at the time. I applied for a visa in early September and finally got it in late November.

Their bureaucracy was kind enough to actually let me start working in EARLY November as long as the company promised not to pay me until the visa was actually issued later in the month. They also added that the company could pay me before if they called it "seikatsuhi" (living expenses) rather than salary.

[kearnyirish2]

Nice; here in the US we’d call it a “stipend”...not “pay”.

[bobcat62]

Take a look at Twitter & the amount of Desi squealing about #h1b restrictions. Sounds like USCiS is doing something right.