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Comment by amendegree | Hacker News Reader

Not to hate on immigrants… but shouldn’t H1B’s be the first on the chopping block of layoffs? Hard to imagine all those H1Bs are so unique that others already employed can’t replace them.

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You don't need to pay H1Bs as much. They're a bargain deal.

Yep, you need to get sponsored to work so we have thousands and thousands of workers trapped with low salaries. Nothing they can really do. It’s too risky trying to find another company to sponsor you because otherwise you get deported back

They also can't as easily job hop.

And so they can't push back on a crazy workload.

The spice must flow.

Preferably at a lower cost, though...

I was on L1 (with Canadian PR, so it wasn't totally critical for me) during 2010 or so layoffs/firings, and I've heard rumors that they were trying to spare H1s/L1s because it's a giant pain to get fired as one. I don't think it's related to paycheck; after being encouraged to relocate from Canada (on PR i.e. not dependent on the job) to the US (on L1 i.e. worse than H1) my paycheck went up a bunch for the same job.

So you are hating on immigrants…

It's not quite that reductive.

If the point of the program is A, and you think it's being used as B, it's fair to ask if the point of the program is really A or if it's actually B.

Just pointing that out or asking the question does not mean you "hate immigrants".

You might! But I don't think it's guaranteed.

> Hard to imagine all those H1Bs are so unique that others already employed can’t replace them.

I think the language speaks for itself

Yes, it’s pretty clear that MS is abusing the H1B program. Which is supposed to be used only when no local talent can be found… if you’re firing 1000s of local people I have a hard time believing they are truly less skilled than the H1Bs being hired.

Most engineers (H1Bs, and not) I’ve met aren’t exceptional. Saying that isn’t xenophobic.

They are firing people in the sales, gaming etc and the H1B hiring is in other orgs. AND the layoffs are global, not just in the US.

It's also bizarre...all those american-indian or indian CEOs firing americans and replacing them with indians.

I mean lol..have u heard of american-czech CEO doing that to americans with czechs. Not really right...

American-Whatever CEOs cut American jobs and ship them abroad all the time. For software American-whatever CEOs use India as a hub for offshore hiring, because that’s where they have options. If tomorrow Mexico or Latin American countries have a lot of software engineers available and are cheaper than India, the jobs would go there.

What’s really bizarre is that when the CEO happens to be Indian American, there’s a problem and a conspiracy.

Nope this is not the case.

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