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Comment by youzicha | Hacker News Reader

Exactly this was proposed last year in a bill with a democrat sponsor. But right now H1b is basically the only way to get hired as an immigrant. If you made it wage-prioritized there would be basically no way to get an h1b for entry level jobs, which would really suck for new graduates.

http://alexyar.tumblr.com/post/156649015342/anyway-heres-the...

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> But right now H1b is basically the only way to get hired as an immigrant.

No, it's not. (It's technically not even a way to be hired as an immigrant, and there are work-based immigrant visas as well.as other work-eligible non-immigrant visas.)

> If you made it wage-prioritized there would be basically no way to get an h1b for entry level jobs

That's not even theoretically the purpose of the H-1B, and I'm not really convinced we need to import entry level workers.

> which would really suck for new graduates.

I'm not sure “it would reduce the incentive for US colleges to train foreigners rather than Americans for entry-level jobs in high-demand, high-paying professions in America” is an argument against a policy change.

This is not true. If you make it wage-prioritized, it will help real employers (VC funded startups as well as big companies), and make life difficult for body-shop employers like the one mentioned in this article. The body-shops are consistently the lowest-paying employers.

H-1B shouldn't be used for entry level positions though. It should be used for positions that cannot be filled by the local workforce.

So no jobs for newly graduated students who are not citizens?

If they don't have a skill that employers are willing to pay top dollar for, then no. H-1B is designed for bringing highly skilled workers into the country. It's not a program for job security for new grads.

Experience is usually worth more than skill. It's pretty stupid to turn away smart young people who you have paid to educate in the best universities in the world.

Yes, it is stupid, I wholeheartedly agree it should be fixed, but I disagree that it should be fixed by H-1B visa.

H-1B is not intended for newly graduated students. For them, there is OPT. You are right OPT is restrictive, but that is best solved by changing OPT.

If you studied in a US university you don't need H1B visa for 3 years. You can work on OPT with F1 visa. However, OPT is very restricted, you job should be very close to what you studied in university and if you didn't study STEM you get only 1 year. That's how I worked in US as Software Engineer after studying Computer Science.

Also, let's not forget about TN for Canadians and Mexicans. Does not allow to immigrate but you can work w/o problems (lost too many friends to it! they moved to SF)

"The nonimmigrant NAFTA Professional (TN) visa allows citizens of Canada and Mexico, as NAFTA professionals, to work in the United States" [0]

[0] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/employme...

But H1B is not the answer for entry level jobs. It is for skilled workers.

I don't know what you're talking about. As a new graduate, I have a very hefty Data Science offer in the Bay.

(Canadian here btw).

Is it OPT or H1B?

It should be none of them, it should be TN

"The nonimmigrant NAFTA Professional (TN) visa allows citizens of Canada and Mexico, as NAFTA professionals, to work in the United States"[0]

[0] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/employme...

Oh I see. I work on OPT, but am not Mexican or Canadian citizen. I think all STEM majors who studied in an American university have the right to work in US for 3 years in a job very close to what they studied.

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