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Comment by dominotw | Hacker News Reader

Been hearing this since late nineties about how inability to get visas is going to be the death of US tech industry. Absolutely nothing has changed since h1b visa was initially implemented, its almost exactly the same when as it was conceived. And yet U.S tech industry is not dead.

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In the late 90's working remotely wasn't a thing for most of us.

Nowadays it is pretty common in any major corporation, and has opened the door for offshoring all sorts of projects.

Honestly, if the US had generally a welcoming visa/immigrant policy, I and most startup founders would not even think to set up my company elsewhere as it is in some regards "the center of the world". But as the US gets a more and more unwelcoming image, other places like London, Berlin or Vancouver rise. Of course tech in the USA is not dead and will not be any time soon. But it could be attracting much more talent if it was more open and easier to get into. Look at Dubai: you want to found a company in Internet Zone? Go there, found the company, get your visas in a simple process, move over. The fees are high, but it is straight forward. That is how it should be in the US. I know there are investor visas, but it is a difficult process with an open end. And then there is stuff like the random travel ban, which, for example, makes it impossible to take my wife (Iranian) with me.

>>And yet U.S tech industry is not dead.

Well not dead, but definitely lost out on total world domination.

There isn't much difference though. If you settle for a draw after once being in a unbeatable position, its as good as a loss.

> Absolutely nothing has changed since h1b visa was initially implemented

They've changed a bunch of things, including at one point tripling the number of visas available:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa#Changes_to_legal_and...

Whats happening is response to current available alternatives(solutions ) , which was not exploited in 90s

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