> This is a de facto shutdown of the program

Is it?

Some AI recruitments have seen 9-figure contracts. $100K is actually a surprisingly well-considered number and would still see the intake of legitimate talents, obviously contingent on the specific details. Indeed, those people wouldn't have to compete with masses of consultant trash and the whole lottery system could be done away with.

$100K actually seems perfectly coherent with forcing the program to winnow down to actual talents. People truly good enough to get the employer to pony up $100K to pull them in -- presuming there isn't some kickback fraud happening -- will truly be the best of the best.

> The only effect this is going to have is accelerating the offshoring of jobs through more hiring in

Paradoxically the #1 reason H1B employers bring in H1Bs is to bridge offshoring work. Pull in a dozen Indians and they're your bridge to the big Indian office, which is precisely why Infosys, Tata et al are such H1B users.

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guyzero 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

> Some AI recruitments have seen 9-figure contracts.

These are crazy outliers who would go through a different visa path anyway. US tech companies still need mid-level workers making low-to-mid six figures. Weirdly O1 visa holder spouses will get an O3 which doesn't allow them to work, making it worse than the H1B/H4 visa for some set of people. (H4s allow spouses to work)

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qwm a day ago | parent | next [-]

They're crazy outliers, and that's fine. The point of H1B is hiring talent outside of the United States, not hiring normal webdevs or commodity software engineers. A fee like that, where a large salary for an exceptional job would make the cost relatively small, brings the program back to its original goal.

If you just need a normal worker, there are plenty of CS grads and unemployed SWEs you can hire in the US right now. If you need a specialized foreign worker because he or she is not available in the US, then chances are you are going to pay a premium anyway; that's the point.

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sniggler 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>US tech companies still need mid-level workers making low-to-mid six figures

Yes, and there are plenty of US citizens to fill these roles.

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vkou 3 days ago | parent [-]

I wasn't aware that we've already reached the end of 'work that needs to be done'.

Does this utopia come with four-day weekends?

Countries become wealthy because people in them work and make stuff. It's incredible to see people actively advocating for making their country poorer. "No, no, we have too many people working..."

	▲	sniggler 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		[dead]

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llm_nerd 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> These are crazy outliers

They are. And in the truly talented spaces there are many at all of the ranges in between.

> US tech companies still need mid-level workers making low-to-mid six figures

$100k for three to six years seems entirely reasonable if it's really such a critical need.

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dtauzell 3 days ago | parent [-]

It sounds like this expired each year. So it is 100k extra per year.

	▲	llm_nerd 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		An H1B is a three year visa. The new proclamation itself expires after a year unless it's renewed, but it didn't actually adjust any other rules of the visa to my knowledge. So the one year seems to be the trial policy of the $100K, but it sounds like it's a single payment per visa, then normal visa policy comes into play.

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mrheosuper 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> People truly good enough to get the employer to pony up $100K to pull them in -- presuming there isn't some kickback fraud happening -- will truly be the best of the best.

And what stops those people, best of the best, working somewhere else, with much better living standard(EU) ?

In the past, it's because of salary, but now, the 100k/year will either make company to lower their package, or try to extract much more from the employee.

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PeterHolzwarth 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

$100,000 per year.

	▲	llm_nerd 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		It is very in the air on what the details are, as is often the case with this administration.

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ponector 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

There is a separate talent visa, why should they use H1B and pay extra 100k instead of using it?