Comment Re:H1B's are GOOD for America (Score 0) 980
Allowing a reasonable number of well trained foreigners into the US is a very smart idea. Just think about how much it costs the US government to educate a single citizen. People are a cost on society until they are at least 18. Via H1B programs you can get people that another country has paid for to come and contribute.
That is more of an argument against having kids than increasing immigration. Also, a techie's K-12 education will not differ significantly in cost from the rest of the population.
Foreigners have made considerable contributions to technology in the US. The Manhattan project team had large numbers of refugees in it. Important parts of the team that put man on the moon came from the German rocket program. Andy Grove and a number of other high tech pioneers came from outside the US. Bringing in foreigners is smart.
Agreed.
It probably does make some impact on salaries in the short term, but the benefit is that by getting bright people into the US it helps keep the US as the world's leading developer of technology. So I'd argue that the overall effect is positive on salaries. There are, of course, abuses, as there is in any scheme, but overall the program is a good idea.
I've worked with many H-1B's in my career, good bad and intermediate. I do not buy the argument that they are necessarily any better than the "lazy American engineers".
It is interesting to note that a number of European countries, Germany especially, have picked up on the idea that H1B like visas are a good idea. I'm totally annoyed that my home country is notoriously difficult for educated people to emigrate to. Personally, it's one of the US's great strengths and more countries should behave in this way.
Perhaps if that was the case, I wouldn't dislike the H-1B program so much. It should be as easy for me to farm out my skills anywhere in the world, as it is for American companies to import technical talent. Of course, language barriers complicate things for many of us ...
That is more of an argument against having kids than increasing immigration. Also, a techie's K-12 education will not differ significantly in cost from the rest of the population.
Foreigners have made considerable contributions to technology in the US. The Manhattan project team had large numbers of refugees in it. Important parts of the team that put man on the moon came from the German rocket program. Andy Grove and a number of other high tech pioneers came from outside the US. Bringing in foreigners is smart.
Agreed.
It probably does make some impact on salaries in the short term, but the benefit is that by getting bright people into the US it helps keep the US as the world's leading developer of technology. So I'd argue that the overall effect is positive on salaries. There are, of course, abuses, as there is in any scheme, but overall the program is a good idea.
I've worked with many H-1B's in my career, good bad and intermediate. I do not buy the argument that they are necessarily any better than the "lazy American engineers".
It is interesting to note that a number of European countries, Germany especially, have picked up on the idea that H1B like visas are a good idea. I'm totally annoyed that my home country is notoriously difficult for educated people to emigrate to. Personally, it's one of the US's great strengths and more countries should behave in this way.
Perhaps if that was the case, I wouldn't dislike the H-1B program so much. It should be as easy for me to farm out my skills anywhere in the world, as it is for American companies to import technical talent. Of course, language barriers complicate things for many of us
