Source: Olga Nesterova on X/Twitter — Private front-end.
People also share that this is causing travel disruption:
Relevant: President Donald J. Trump Suspends the Entry of Certain Alien Nonimmigrant Workers
Source: Olga Nesterova on X/Twitter — Private front-end.
People also share that this is causing travel disruption:
Relevant: President Donald J. Trump Suspends the Entry of Certain Alien Nonimmigrant Workers
Trapping hard-working H-1B immigrants—who are already (relative to American citizens without a visa at stake) in a weak bargaining position regarding salary increases—in the country unless their employers pay a $100,000 bribe is such a despicable thing to do.
Edit: As a reply pointed out, the law mandates that such employees be paid at par with other employees. Despite this, the dependence on the benevolence of one’s employer to remain in the country, in addition to the filing fees associated with any job transfer, already puts such employees at an inherent disadvantage.
The H1-B visa requires you to pay at least the prevailing wage, which is the average wage people are paid for the same position. At big companies like Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, etc., people on H1-B and similar visas (E-3, H1B1, etc) have the exact same starting salary and are in the exact same salary bands as US citizens.
There’s some companies that abuse H1-Bs by doing things like using weird obscure job titles and (contracting companies like Tata and Accenture come to mind), but just because some companies abuse a system doesn’t mean every company should be punished.
You’re not mentioning salary bands which allow the same position and responsibilities to have up to 40% variation in salary, and promotions which allow you to officially state someone is not proven to work at the same level as another individual. Ah, and the restriction on the employee most powerful salary negotiation, the typical “I got a job offer and I’m leaving unless you match the salary”.
Also, you can’t really move jobs either. So a H1B friend of mine was in fact underpaid for the work he was doing because actually moving to the job title he was doing would’ve restarted the clock on his citizenship.
You can’t apply for citizenship from a H1-B. You have to get permanent residency (green card) first, then be a permanent resident for 5 years.
It may have been his green card. I’ll admit to not being intricately aware of the process. I just know he was taken advantage of due to his inability to change job titles without doing something to his efforts to eventually become a citizen.
I’m not sure about other companies, but the big tech companies pay exactly the same regardless of whether you’re on a work visa or not. At the company I work at, bonuses and raises are formulaic based on performance, and the performance discussions/calibrations for ratings and promotions don’t take visa status into account at all (I’ve participated in them).
Smaller companies are less ethical, but they get a much smaller proportion of the H1-B visas.
Immigrants are also under way more pressure than citizens. Doesn’t that you get the same salary when you’re expected to do 10h extra per week
It really depends on the company. I’m an immigrant myself - I was on an E3 work visa for six years, then got a green card. For me, workload and expectations weren’t any different to a US citizen, and that’s the case at my employer in general.
I plan projects for and and delegate work to junior employees, and I don’t know or care if they’re on a work visa or not. I’ve been in calibration meetings (to handle ratings and promotions) and the person’s visa status is never discussed.
Nah, you can un-cross-out “underpaid;” it’s accurate. The other employees are underpaid, too.
Edited it again to avoid implying that they’re not underpaid, as the billions in profits that those companies make is certainly exorbitant.
Your point?
I’d prefer to be living in a liberal democracy than in a xenophobic, conservative, fascist state is all.
Fair enough then.