Trump's New Visa Fees Spur Offshoring Talks, Hiring Turmoil

> The visa previously cost employers only a few thousand dollars. But the new $100,000 fee would flip the equation, making hiring talent in countries like India - where wages are lower and Big Tech now builds innovation hubs instead of back offices - more attractive, experts and executives told Reuters.

> "We probably have to reduce the number of H-1B visa workers we can hire," said Sam Liang, co-founder and CEO of popular artificial intelligence transcription start-up Otter. "Some companies may have to outsource some of their workforce. Hire maybe in India or other countries just to walk around this H-1B problem."

The H-1B program was already broken by the lottery. This new fee just solidifies the L-1 visa as the real high-skilled pipeline. More L-1 visas are already approved annually than new H-1Bs, and this policy only widens that gap.

In addition to L1, O1 is also often gamed. $100K for H1B is mostly "posturing" at this point, as voters don't know about other options.

    Changing or Leaving Your H-1B Employer
    Q. What is “porting”?

    A. There are two kinds of job portability, or “porting,” available based on two different kinds of employer petitions:

    H-1B petition portability: Eligible H-1B nonimmigrants may begin working for a new employer as soon as the employer properly files a new H-1B petition (Form I-129) requesting to amend or extend H-1B status with USCIS, without waiting for the petition to be approved. More information about H-1B portability can be found on our H-1B Specialty Occupations page.

    ...

    Q. How do I leave my current employer to start working for a new employer while remaining in H-1B status?

    A. Under H-1B portability provisions, you may begin working for a new employer as soon as they properly file a non-frivolous H-1B petition on your behalf, or as of the requested start date on the petition, whichever is later. You are not required to wait for the new employer’s H-1B petition to be approved before beginning to work for the new employer, assuming certain conditions are met. For more details about H-1B portability, see our H-1B Specialty Occupations page, under “Changing Employers or Employment Terms with the Same Employer (Portability).”

i do not get why hacker news is against that. it is quite a socialist policy lol

The next step will be to impose tariffs on code developed abroad.

Not that I agree with tariffs, but there are import taxes on physical goods and parts and so on, even when they are produced by the same company, so why not on services?

If there's any truth in the "phd level AI", let alone AGI narrative going on since a few years this must be no problem at all, just use AI. If that narrative isn't true then in not-so-distant future SV must run out of money to hire people for other stuff anyway as all the resources seem to be in the AI basket.

The AI thing aside, I wonder why people are not demanding actual fix on the issues, i.e. right to change employer. Sure, companies wouldn't want that but aren't the SV engineers highly paid individuals? Wouldn't they be able to collect considerable resources to lobby the politicians into it?

Gentle reminder that the Netherlands has lots of very smart software engineers that prefer to stay there, especially if there were more interesting software companies active there.

I don't see the issue: talented individuals can get O1, and not-talented individuals are not worth hiring at startups anyway.

The H1B program has been abused by employers for a long time. Nobody can reasonably defend it at scale. Some fear mongering now that the party is over, but unlikely doomsday is coming for US tech.

Is this a unilateral change that will have some collateral damage? Yes.

Is this going to total ruin the US tech sector? Unlikely.

Will all these jobs just go to India directly? Almost certainly not. That option was always on the table and lots of reasons why employers aren’t sending more jobs to India, including deep structural challenges in the country that aren’t close to being solved.

Will they get offshored elsewhere? Mostly not. Maybe a bit, but those jobs were already at risk of being offshored. The H1B change won’t make a huge difference there. More likely is 15% of roles offshore, 15% were truly needed and employers pay up, 15% are just eliminated and absorbed into existing workers, and the rest stay in the US. Thats still a big net win for the United States.

What will happen? Not completely clear yet, but over time this simply raises the bar for claiming you need to import somone to do a job. India will lose the most as it puts big hurdles to folks there getting highly desirable jobs in the US. There may be some very limited movement of roles elsewhere but those will likely go to Canada, the UK, and maybe a few other places.

The administration is calling the bluff of these companies crying foul, and very likely these companies will cave. Expect to see anyone that does actually try to move things abroad to simply be slapped with tariffs that make such moves unprofitable. These companies value access to the US market much more than employing a few H1Bs.

Not saying I agree with everything happening, but the idea that this was some poorly researched jerk reaction dangerously underestimates the playbook being used here. The administration knows exactly what they’re doing.

My only complaint with the entire H1B process is that it is used to simply hire cheaper labor, rather than the best, often at the expense of Americans. It's essentially importing a cheaper work force to displace the local one. That's the unfair economic impact because Americans cannot compete.

Just ask anyone who had to train their H1B replacement to get severance.

Those who support H1B should start talking to those who feel displaced, replaced, and cheated. Any one of us could be replaced or off shored.

Reuters has zero credibility at this point. Shameful.

No, mention of OPT in this thread so here it goes. I’m directly observing OPT candidates crowding out American workers from getting jobs.

Foreign students pay large sums of money for advanced American STEM degrees and then flood the market for the same jobs American tech workers are trying to get. Americans in debt from undergrad degrees that foreign nationals were able to obtain a lot cheaper.

The ratios I’m seeing are insane, like 90% OPT candidates. You can’t discriminate against them, have advanced degrees and accept lower salaries and out number domestic applicants - so we reluctantly hire them. Even though their technical communication and English skills are abysmal.

The cold truth is some companies simply like H1Bs since it’s a form of indentured servitude. There are plenty of US tech workers to fill most roles. Probably only ~10% of roles with an H1B would meet the bar for being unable to find a qualified US worker.

It’s no coincidence that Amazon has more than double the number of H1Bs in corporate tech roles than the next biggest user. They’re not exactly broadly known for being a great place to work in tech. However, with H1Bs Amazon has a lot more power over making tech workers tolerate stupid stuff that makes these jobs much less attractive to top-tier US tech talent with more mobility.

I would pivot H-1B teams to Canadian offices if I were big tech.

How kind of Trump to solve the brain drain problems which have affected so many of America's peers and/or rivals.

It'll be easier to hire now that they don't have to compete with US salaries.

Even better there are a lot of US scientists looking for a job since the multi billion dollar funding cuts for cancer research. Perhaps they can also help everyone else out.

It's still America first, he's just using zero based indexing and everyone else is in position 0.

If you think about this fee like "tariffs for service workers" then it's easier to infer its impact. Tariff distorts prices. That might be a good thing or not. Monopolies and dominant big tech will be able to absorb this cost better -- they already have huge legal departments and HR, and can pay for the cost as long as they can accelerated things with fees. startups, smaller players and universities will be less likely to be able to afford that. You already see this in H1B market, just to a less extent. More STEM immigrants could move to tech/finance (not that it's not already this case) because that's already the only place any H1B job can be found. You're not going to find a small brewery job recruiting H1B.

Another possibility is this cost gets shared with the workers who are desperate to get a job and supresses real H1B wages even more-- it's already quota controlled. Hey, what are you going to do if you don't get a raise, give up on your life in this country or pay 100k to move?

As always, the best way of protect labor is better regulations and maybe unions.

People on H1Bs, I can't imagine how scary it all is. I'm disgusted you are going through this. I don't think I have ever worked with an H1B co-worker that I didn't want as a permanent fellow american. I may have been frustrated when their skills weren't where they should have been, but that again was on the companies gaming the system. On the personal level I never once worked with someone I wouldn't have been thrilled to be my friend/neighbor/inlaws. We aren't upset you are here. We are frustrated at how companies are using this system. I know that sort of semantics don't matter when it's your actual LIFE being torn up/risked/threatened.

I have been critical of H1B on here. I think it has been abused by companies and hurt American workers. But I also think we should allow more just plain old immigration (that doesn't give companies crazy leverage over workers).

I think people currently under the program should be exempted. You can't invite people into your home, then after they build their lives around that alter the deal. That's incredibly fucked up. Especially when it's kind people excited to come live in your house with you.

My first responses on here when this happened was 'about time'. And then I saw frantic people posting and my heart broke and I felt sick I had posted that.

Entry level tech positions are really in turmoil, not silicon valley hiring.

This is a win for common sense. At first the H1Bs were justifiable, but over time the hack became a staple for squeezing out local hires for bottom dollar contenders. Of course it was executed extremely poorly and with confusion. That's standard procedure for this administration.