> Corporate H1-B visas are limited to 85,000, including 20,000 reserved for > those with an advanced degree.
Correct, however I think you're reading that as there's only allowed to be 85,000 H1B visa holders... that's wrong. That's a YEARLY limit for the number of NEW H1B's issued; renewals and transfers don't count toward that limit. As of January FWD.us estimates there are 730,000 current H1B holders in the US <https://www.fwd.us/news/h1b-visa-program/>, along with 550,000 dependents. That's quite a lot of people, especially given the turmoil in the tech industry over the last few years. On Tue, Jul 1, 2025, at 8:38 PM, mike/r via PLUG-discuss wrote: > This is a Linux list, so I won't get into the politics. Corporate H1-B visas > are limited to 85,000, including 20,000 reserved for those with an advanced > degree. While recently around 600,000 visas are requested annually (both > corporate and otherwise), most are not granted. The visas generally last for > 3 years and can usually be extended another 3 years. In my (quite dated) > experience, graduates did not have to return to their home country. Do not > take any of this as my opinion on whether it should or should not be this way. > > On 7/1/25 9:13 PM, David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss wrote: >> I saw a video of part of a roundtable thing where there were HR reps from >> MS, HP, and some other major software employers, and the part I saw was >> about H1B candidates. This would have been about 10 years ago now. >> >> They said they budgeted $50k to prosecute every H1B visa. That’s JUST THE >> LEGAL FEES for the immigraion paperwork over time. >> >> There was also employee on-boarding, relocation, salary, and and other >> stuff. For the ones who were married, or got married later, they also >> included the visa / immigration costs for their family members as well. >> >> I wish someone would file a lawsuit against them in order to get to a >> Discovery phase where they can find out exactly how much they budget for job >> retrainingf or existing employees. >> >> Here’s some context: Companies that hire for DoD jobs take up around 70% of >> all BS graduates who are US Citizens, because they cannot hire foreigners. >> DoD hires account for a majority of MS and PhD grads who are also US >> Citizens. These employers do not have any incentive to pay for graduate >> school for these folks, so very few of them go on to graduate school. >> >> However, a significant number of STEM students, especially in Engineering >> and Computer Science, are foreigners. They can get their BS here and then >> their MS, but then they have to go back to their home country for 2 years. >> Predictably, this encouraged a lot of companies to set up facilities to hire >> these people in their home countries. But once that 2-year window is >> expired, many of them are brought to America. >> >> In order to qualify for an H1B visa, the person has to have relatively >> unique skills, and it’s very rare for someone without a MS or PhD to qualify >> for an H1B. >> >> Because DoD hires account for such a large percentage of US Citizens at all >> levels, it’s difficult for US employers to hire them. Which leaves >> foreigners as the largest pool of prospective employees — especially if they >> want to hire people with graduate degrees. >> >> That’s fine and dandy, but what’s wonky about it is why a company like MS >> would spend so much to hire H1B candidates rather than retrain US employees. >> It’s really very simple. >> >> The main reason is the length of time it takes to get a green card. The last >> I heard, it was taking nearly 10 years for people from India to get their >> GCs. Some countries are as low as 4-5 years. >> >> People on an H1B visa are earning a ton of money relative to what they’d get >> back home; they live cheaply and send most of their earnings to their >> families at home. The employer is paying for all of their immigration fees >> which is probably over $100k over time, if not more. >> >> But here’s the thing: because it takes so long to get the GCs, these people >> are basically slaves. They keep a very low profile, they never complain, >> will not argue with anybody, or do anything that might get them fired. >> Because if they leave, all of the funds paid by their employer are LOST and >> their application is immediatly dismissed. They have 30 days to find another >> employer willing to start over on their H1B from scratch … or they have to >> leave the country. >> >> Which is why when they have layoffs, the US Citizens are always the ones to >> get cut. Unfortunately, it’s NOT illegal, and is a very common practice. If >> it WAS illegal, these companies would probably move 100% of their software >> development off-shore. >> >> Personally, I think they should be required to EARN THE RIGHT to process H1B >> visas, showing they have spent some reasonable amount of money retraining >> say, 10 US Citizens in order to hire ONE new H1B candidate. Or pay to put >> ONE US Citizen through graduate school and earn a Master’s degree in order >> to hire ONE foreigner with a Master’s degree. >> >> As it is, there are NO restrictions on how many US Citizens they can layoff >> versus how many foreigners they can hire. >> >> The only limitation is that there are only 65,000 H1B visas per year, and >> that includes spouses and family members. They become available in October, >> and are usually all scarfed-up in a day or two. >> >> This is one of those things that will hopefully be fixed whenever Congress >> decides to fix our outdated, unfair, and mostly broken immigration laws. >> >> -David Schwartz >> >> >> >> >>> On Jul 1, 2025, at 4:45 PM, Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss >>> <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote: >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> "Between May and June, Microsoft laid off 2,300 employees in Washington >>> alone, including 817 software engineers ... During the same period, >>> Microsoft submitted 6,327 H-1B visa requests for software engineer roles >>> matching the same job titles and location as those affected by the layoffs" >>> - As far as I know this is illegal. >>> >>> About 16 years ago I was on the Tucson Free Unix List and made a post about >>> H1B visas. I was met with a reply of "what's the matter are you afraid of >>> someone more skilled". I expect there are folks on this list that fee the >>> same way. >>> >>> H1B visas are bad for our country especially when there are plenty of >>> skilled people right here. >>> >>> I often wonder why Gates never created a school to teach the skills he >>> needs for his company. >>> >>> I'm 69 years old and when I take a trip down memory late I feel I would >>> have been better off staying in the field I was in and enjoy technology as >>> a hobby. It has been a rough ride. I feel for those being laid off and >>> especially those being laid off so some really rich folks can take >>> advantage of the system. >>> >>> Bravo to those who are ditching M$ for Linux. I have tried multiple times >>> and I think October (end of life for M10) will be the end of M$ for me. >>> >>> https://www.wnd.com/2025/07/microsoft-dumps-thousands-american-workers-favor-cheaper-foreign/ >>> >>> Peace, Out!! >>> Keith >>> >>> >>> --------------------------------------------------- >>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >>> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >> --------------------------------------------------- >> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >
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