(Replying to PARENT post)
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff...
It really soured me on the whole program.
If employers stop using it to undercut and fire american workers while claiming there aren't enough american workers to fill the jobs. I'd feel different.
edit:fixed link
(Replying to PARENT post)
- this move is going to deport people with approved green-card applications (i140), the standards for which are much more stringent than the standards for the h1b program
- this move affects only Indian citizens and no one else. Not China, not Mexico, not Pakistan, only India.
- The reason why Indian citizens are being affected by this, and the reason why they have to wait so long to receive their green cards, is unrelated to their individual credentials. An equally qualified Mexican/Pakistani candidate will receive their green card within 2-3 years. An equally qualified Chinese candidate will receive their green card within 6 years. Indian candidates alone face a wait of 8-9+ years, which is a great kick in the teeth by itself, but this rule will now also deport them.
I'm all for H1B reform. I'm all for making the standards more stringent, or raising the minimum-salary thresholds. I'm all for vetting prospective immigrants, and choosing only the best and brightest. But this new tweak does none of those things. It's going to deport tens of thousands of Indians, only Indians, and purely on account of them being Indian. What we're seeing is essentially a 21st century repeat of the Chinese-Exclusion-Act.
(Replying to PARENT post)
Removing the H4 EAD and forcing H1B lottery on existing tax payers sound like the opposite of Obama's "pen & phone" policy making.
California will take a huge tax hit, which will probably force it to increase SALT (though I hope they take the SALT and rewrite it as a payroll tax directly so that the corporations can pay it directly to the state, skipping individual income & becoming deductible again).
The only mitigating factor to this is if they go in with HR 392 (has more sponsors than the votes needed) and make it apply retroactively.
There were a large number of Indians who were pro-trump[1] during the election, but I'm not sure if their support actually meant anything or not.
[1] - https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/us-elections-2016/Hopes-...
(Replying to PARENT post)
(Replying to PARENT post)
Maybe this will help us work out the issues with H1-Bs and give people a faster means of obtaining citizenship. It's a win-win, as these people get stay in the US, and Trump can claim companies are now "hiring American."
(Replying to PARENT post)
They're, however, not eligible for ANY of the social safety net they subsidize America for, (no social security, unemployment, Medicare, etc). They're overwhelmingly peaceful, law abiding residents with higher education, most earning in the top 5%.
Abuse of the system is not by the recipients, but the companies enabling the abuse - punish the companies, not the innocent, tax paying, peaceful, law abiding residents who don't wake up every morning saying "Today, I want to replace an American job and suppress some wages, dream FUCKING LIFE".
If this law does pass, I believe those being asked to leave should sue the US for repayment of Social security and Medicare taxes paid - after all they're non resident aliens and should be taxed as such. Ludicrous restrictions like not being allowed open their own businesses, killing any chance of monetizing a side hustle is another opportunity cost that the govt. cannot compensate for - and it may even be illegal, after all bringing an idea to life is free speech!
Most of all, if this is squarely an anti-India policy, India should return the favor in kind and add tariffs to American businesses & individuals benefiting from trading with India. A page from Trump's own playbook is the only answer that'll get through to him.