It definitely suppresses TECH worker pay and decreases mobility. For the H1B they become indentured servants often working 60+ hrs a week.

H1B holders are paid less for the same job, keeping wages down.

▲

laurencerowe 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

While the permanent residence process is clearly broken for people from India and China, I don't think it's accurate to characterise H1B workers as indentured servants. The paperwork for changing jobs on an H1B is fairly easy and is not subject to the H1B lottery.

Cap-exempt H1B holders working for universities are restricted to switching only to other cap-exempt employers, but even then I never felt I had to work 60+ hours a week.

▲

nerpderp82 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

I am specifically talking about tech, I personally knew many H1B folks that worked insane hours literally so that they were seen as ultra productive and wouldn't get cut.

	▲	laurencerowe 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		That sounds like a really unhealthy workplace. Fortunately that was not my experience working in tech on a visa.

▲

Tadpole9181 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You would need to get another job, unlike a citizen. It need not be said how that's a significant barrier to resisting your employer, no?

▲

_DeadFred_ 4 days ago | parent [-]

Another job willing to do the paperwork, willing to sponsor, that has access to an immigration lawyer. It's not just 'finding a job' it's finding a job at a company willing/able to do all that. It's definitely a much higher bar.

▲

laurencerowe 4 days ago | parent [-]

The paperwork is far less onerous than for sponsoring a new immigrant.

In my experience recruiters saw H1B transfers as routine but would ghost me once I explained that I required a new visa sponsorship since I worked or a cap-exempt employer and could not simply transfer.

▲

15155 3 days ago | parent [-]

The point is that it is a non-zero amount of effort and cost, creating a second class of employees.

▲

laurencerowe 3 days ago | parent [-]

While temporary residents do have fewer rights than permanent residents or citizens, the characterisation of us as indentured servants is just absurd. Those of us working in tech are pretty privileged overall - the median software developer salary is above the 90th percentile!

▲

15155 3 days ago | parent [-]

That you are "pretty privileged" is a value judgment of your own and is irrelevant to the deleterious effects that the conditions of your employment create on the industry at large.

Yes: software developer incomes are high. But simultaneously, unemployment amongst CS grads at American universities is also high.

	▲	laurencerowe 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Shrug. Having 10 years of experience when I moved here I don’t think I was competing with recent CS grads at any point. I did however share that experience with the newly graduated US junior developers I mentored.

▲

rramadass 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

No.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45306919

▲

nerpderp82 4 days ago | parent [-]

> In 2021, the median wage of an H-1B worker was $108,000, compared to $45,760 for U.S. workers in general.

This compares medians across to huge populations. I have seen many H1Bs making less and working more.

	▲	rramadass 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It is the distribution that matters at a wage level cluster defined by DOL. There are four (i.e. entry, qualified, experienced, and fully competent) and those are higher than the medians. See also Understanding H-1B Minimum Salary Requirements for Eligibility - https://day1cpt.org/news/understanding-h-1b-minimum-salary-r...
	▲	t-3 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Both can be true. H-1B's earn less than their domestic peers, but far more than the domestic underclass they are brought in to keep down.