Better solutions to H1B?
Ok, forget hr1044. Everyone agrees the system is broken. We got a bunch of problem solvers here, what’s a better system. Assumptions: 1. No open borders (pipe dream) 2. Has to be long term beneficial to US economy I have my view on this but would like to see people commenting first as the post at the top has too much weight (everyone reads it). If you don’t mind please indicate if you are or were on H1B. I was not, I immigrated to this country as a refugee kid well before I had valuable skills.
In what way is the system broken? You don’t know the difference.
1. I would like to see a comprehensive study on what skills/degrees the US is ACTUALLY lacking. I would like this study to be done without the input of tech corporations, consultancies, and other firms which benefit from employing foreign labor as opposed to US citizens. People with demonstrated skills, experience and education in these areas would be priority 1, and would be granted expedited residency and citizenship, with residency offered within 1-2 years and citizenship in 1 year more. This study would be conducted on a rolling basis, perhaps every 2 years. Meanwhile, the Federal govt would pay the entire tuition for US citizens to receive education in these areas to shore the gap over the longer term. 2. Studies would be conducted on future growth industries. People with demonstrated skills, experience and education in these areas would be priority 2, and would be granted expedited residency and citizenship, behind priority 1s and subject to country-level quotas, but with full citizenship being available no later than 5 years later. This study would be conducted on a rolling basis, perhaps every 3 years. 3. Unskilled labor would be granted temporary work permits not to exceed 1 year, subject to very strict quotas and requiring strict adherence to labor laws by employers, including minimum wage and workers comp. Laborers would pay all applicable taxes as well. They would be promptly deported if they overstated and ineligible for residency/citizenship outside of the non-preferred process. 4. A fundamental reworking of the asylum system, to include third country agreements with Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to permanently end the US’s status as the dumping grounds for the region’s uneducated and unskilled economic migrants. 5. Mandatory implementation of e-verify and aggressive enforcement against employers who hire illegals, to include jail time for managers and owners. This would facilitate self-deportation by illegals without putting children in cages or acting inhumanely towards people whose only real crime, besides violating our immigration laws, is to seek economic prosperity. 6. Abolition of diversity quotas, chain migration, and family preference. 7. Enforcement of assimilation requirements, to include demonstrable knowledge of US history, our government, American traditions, western principles and values, and fluent English as a condition for residency. More to come as I think. Constructive criticism welcome, let’s make the idea better.
Do you at least feel better?
This is overall a pretty stupid list of impractical suggestions that you clearly did not think through. For example, 5. Places undue burden on small businesses, and grounds for racial discrimination as people try to be over cautious in avoiding jail time. Same with 1 - it's not the lack of studies that exist. Economists have done a lot of them - its the consensus that's the issue. People think and act emotionally and one more study isn't going to change that. Nobody can agree on which study is the right one and too much room for disagreement.
You can dream up whatever system you want, but the politics will always get in the way. The 2013 bill had a lot of other things that both parties wanted (amnesty for 11 million, mandatory e-verify, lots of border fencing and boots on the ground) and you can see what they were actually able to agree on: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/research/guide_to_s744_corker_hoeven_final_12-02-13.pdf (page 9) But in my ideal system, there would never be any "sponsorship" by an employer. Instead, there should be a points-based system to get a conditional green card, and having a job offer gets you more points, as does time already spent in-country (for example studying) and English proficiency. If you want to dish our extra points for "diversity", it should also apply to subnational areas (eg. Xinjiang part of China, some parts of India like the North-East, etc) and also if the applicant is fluent in certain foreign languages.
welcome to India!
- Split H1b into buckets based on job, US region, and YOE, "auction" them off based on offered salary. - Create a country cap of 20% to match world population. Bam - no more issues with body shops, no more H1b limbo, higher TCs for workers.
H1B and Green card has no relation! 😑 Comparing Apples to Oranges.