Immigration Reform May Make Your Job Search Much Tougher

[theworldismine13]

Immigration Reform May Make Your Job Search Tougher - Businessweek

If you’re a recent college graduate, a doctoral candidate, or a highly-skilled professional who has been in the job market the past few years, you know it’s rough out there. But if the immigration overhaul proposed in the Senate this morning becomes law, it’s likely to get a lot rougher.

The key provision on this starts around page 299 of the 844-page bill and continues for another 300 pages or so. (Easy to find, I know.) Here’s the takeaway: Under the bill, the number of visas that can be distributed to high-skilled foreigners will increase dramatically. If it passes, there will be four to five times as many high-skilled visas as are available now, says Demetrios G. Papademetriou, president of the nonpartisan think tank, the Migration Policy Institute.

The current system for distributing these visas is the highly inefficient H1-B lottery, the annual first-come, first-served lottery of 65,000 slots for high-skilled visas that Silicon Valley companies scramble for each April. (Another 20,000 are set aside for graduate students.) The visas are temporary but coveted because they allow visa holders to apply for a green card.

Companies have long argued that the H1-B caps don’t allow them to recruit as many qualified workers as they need, which was evident in the 2013 lottery, when the caps were reached in just five days. Sixty percent of those who applied, or 39,000 people, didn’t get a slot, says Neil Ruiz, an immigration expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington. The bill’s sponsors also argue that the reforms will entice talented college graduates to remain and work in America, to the nation’s benefit.

That cap is now being lifted to 110,000, which means it will almost match the current demand. But the number of high-skilled foreigners the U.S. lets in will actually be much greater than 110,000 and will not be limited to scientists and engineers. The Senate’s bill also lifts the caps entirely on another category of high-skilled immigrants, known as “aliens of extraordinary ability.” (Yes, that’s really the term.) If an immigrant has an MD, a PhD in math, science, or engineering, or can prove to the government that she has extraordinary abilities—a successful dancer or editor of a niche magazine, for example—then one can bypass the entire H1-B system. An employer can sponsor the immigrant immediately for a green card.

Under the bill, even undergrads can get green cards directly out of college without having to apply for the H1-B. Ruiz estimates that about 343,000 foreign students currently studying in the U.S. will be eligible to apply for this fast track to citizenship. That’s a huge number, and it includes people who currently don’t even try to apply for an H1-B. Right now, many foreign students in the U.S. decide to go back to their own countries after graduating because the visa restrictions make it hard to land a job. If a British political science major graduating from a U.S. liberal arts college, for example, wants to work at a nonprofit organization in New York City, she’s unlikely to apply for an H1-B because she has almost no chance of getting one. Other types of visas are even harder to obtain.

If the bill passes, there will be plenty more slots to go around. The bar to prove that one qualifies for those slots will also become more stringent. Even so, the number of available visas is expected to skyrocket. That will send ripples through the entire job market.
Which is great, if you’re a U.S. business seeking to recruit the best talent. It’s also great if you’re a university, because now you’ll have an easier time getting top graduates to stay on as researchers. But if you’re headed into the job market in the next couple years, the changes are rather frightening. No matter how you slice it, you’re likely to face more competition.

 

[Serious]

competition is good?

 

[Blackking]

That H1-B sh1t affects the most skilled positions... simply because these people are coming here knowing the newest skills and technology. They dedicate their life, and make it their life mission to get a high paying job ( 45-135/hr) in the US. They meet their goal at a rate of 70k+ of them coming every year.

They out here getting it.. and I can't hate on that. A lot of the skills they learn were developed by American minds and American companies. Is it their fault that we don't take advantage?

 

[theworldismine13]

competition is good?

Sure if its reciprocal, in the end labor should be a free market, in this case other countries would have to open up their job markets and their immigration systems for this to make any sense

 

[daze23]

if they made it illegal for everyone but me to get a job, it would make my job search much easier. and other obvious statements...

 

[newarkhiphop]

if there ever was a need for it

 

[Robbie3000]

We need more skilled people in this country.

 

[QuintessentialBM]

BS..... They need to slow down and manage the immigrants(legal and illegal)and hire from the workforce pool we have here.....

It's getting bad when people are getting their degrees and moving out of the country. There are lot of people who are teaching English overseas because they couldn't find a job here.

 

[Serious]

BS..... They need to slow down and manage the immigrants(legal and illegal)and hire from the workforce pool we have here.....

It's getting bad when people are getting their degrees and moving out of the country. There are lot of people who are teaching English overseas because they couldn't find a job here.

Obviously they don't give a f*ck about people majoring in English. It seems more about centralizing the tech boom in America. Realistically, I think America already produces more than enough talent. Ultimately, employers in areas such as silicon valley, strongly believe in attracting the overall, best talent, while paying as little out in salary...

On the surface this seems very problematic, but evolution / nature encourages this sh*t.

 

[QuintessentialBM]

Obviously they don't give a f*ck about people majoring in English. It seems more about centralizing the tech boom in America. Realistically, I think America already produces more than enough talent. Ultimately, employers in areas such as silicon valley, strongly believe in attracting the overall, best talent, while paying as little out in salary...

On the surface this seems very problematic, but evolution / nature encourages this sh*t.

You're misunderstanding what I'm saying..... EVERYBODY is leaving the country to find stable employment. There are degree holders from every branch teaching overseas because the job market here is that s**tty.

 

[lakinta]

You're misunderstanding what I'm saying..... EVERYBODY is leaving the country to find stable employment. There are degree holders from every branch teaching overseas because the job market here is that s**tty.

everybody? this aint the great depression

responding to the article: i think we need the most talented people in the world to be working for American corporations if the American economy is to grow at a robust rate (3% each year). industrialization and the service economy matured a long time ago. the only way to expand the economy is to have constant technological improvements.

 

[Serious]

You're misunderstanding what I'm saying..... EVERYBODY is leaving the country to find stable employment. There are degree holders from every branch teaching overseas because the job market here is that s**tty.

Bro, I get what your saying, I'm just implying this bill enables employers to recruit internationally for the "best talent", then pay them significantly less once in the US, thus making it all the more competitive for domestic workers.

 

[theworldismine13]

Tech Firms Push to Hire More Workers From Abroad
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/12/t...re-more-workers-from-abroad.html?pagewanted=1

 

[Serious]

This may be off topic, but what would the engineering and physics department in America look like if international students didn't occupy a decent portion of those seats...

Also:

Unemployment in the technology industry hovers below 4 percent, far less than the national average.

Aren't there some people with computer science degrees that can't find jobs?

 

[Brown_Pride]

This may be off topic, but what would the engineering and physics department in America look like if international students didn't occupy a decent portion of those seats...

Also:


Aren't there some people with computer science degrees that can't find jobs?

see now those are damn good questions.

From what i can recall in college it was a majority of dudes from other countries in those areas.

We're converting our accounting software right now and a good chunk of the "contractors" are from outside the USA. Salary isn't the key either because these fukers are banking big time. From what i'm hearing there just aren't enough able "americans" who can do the same level of work.