H1B requirements are (surprise!) rather complicated, but sort of, yes; if the employer says it needs a candidate with a masters’ degree, it could probably get away with requiring one. However, the “prevailing wage” thing is based on figures collected by the Department of Labor, not the employer’s own numbers, so unless the job is highly specialized (say, a widget-designing job where you’re the only company making those widgets) it would be virtually impossible to get around that.
Okay. I kind of get that. But how about the scenario I mentioned where the job requirements specifically call for a BA/BS, and the foreign national has a MA/MS? Can they turn down the ‘qualified’ Bachelor for the over-qualified Master? (considering that they’re not going to pay any more for the Master)
Or did I not understand again? That’s highly possible.
Probably not. The foreign worker has to be paid the same as the employer’s other employees in the same role with the same or similar qualifications. So unless all their similarly situated employees are H1B holders- highly unlikely, for obvious reasons- or the employer was able to hire a couple of US masters’ grads at a depressed wage, I can’t see how.
By way of example, my (Indian) cousin is a Microsoft systems engineer on an H1B, and is paid considerably more than her (domestic) predecessor because of H1B rules; her predecessor was grossly underpaid but apparently never bothered to ask for a raise, or something.
I’m sure you meant “is doing”, and I agree with you that, even though he has pronounced some words like “immigration” and “review” over the last few days, he hasn’t said anything substantive.
Ever get the feeling that Hispanics are starting to feel like Floridians did 8 years ago: “Hey, the next president is up to us!”
[sub]Marco Rubio 2016![/sub]
This is not true for work visas such as H-1B; the employer can hire anyone who meets the job requirements, as long as the job requires at least a bachelor’s degree or greater in a particular field, and they are paying at least the prevailing wage for the location, type, and level of work. It is true for the labor certification process, though (the first step in most employment-based green cards).
True, but plenty of H-1B workers in this scenario are in fact graduates of U.S. universities anyway. And the employer is required to post a notification at the worksite that they are hiring H-1B workers, for what position, and at what salary, and I think once in 13+ years of preparing H-1B petitions have I ever heard of another employee at the worksite complaining about it. (It turned out to be an unqualified employee in another positionwho wantes to apply for the job.) It’s pretty rare that we get client companies who want to pay a prospective H-1B employee less than the prevailing wage.
YMMV, but my father told me he preferred to hire engineers from the local school in Mexico over MIT. They were better at the job and cheaper. This was for jobs on the border that could be performed either in the US or Mexico, although usually both.
Eh? The employer has to file an LCA for an H-1B. Isn’t that part of the labor certification process?
No, LCA stands for Labor Condition Application. Labor certification is a totally different thing, requiring recruitment in several places and documenting that there are no available US workers who meet the minimum qualifications for the job. The required LCA worksite posting only notifies other workers that the employer plans to employ someone in H-1B status.
Oh, okay. Thanks!
Meanwhile, Sheriff Arpaio’s office arrests a 6-year-old girl on suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant.
I don’t see how that’s relevant, notwithstanding Arpaio’s grandstanding. What were they supposed to do with her?
We all deserve a modest middle class lifestyle by virtue of us peons being the ones who make the American rich, the mega-richest richey riches of all human history. It’s not much to ask.
What? How dare you read the article and use your brain. You were just supposed to see the name “Arpaio” and “arrests a 6-year-old girl” and start yelling “What a MONSTER!” “How could he be so black-hearted?!!” Does the man have NO humanity!!!" “I bet he even water boarded her to make her talk!!!”
That’s the kind of stupid he wants to evoke. Good for you for calling him on it. There’s plenty to disagree on with regards to the illegal immigration, and dropping in little partisan-crafted bombs like that are the opposite of helpful.
If you work hard enough helping these Richie Riches they will pay you more than enough to enjoy a modest middle-class lifestyle. If you don’t, you can continue to Master Diablo and ask your parents for money. Your choice.
Awesome! You should deliver this speech to kids graduating today. Even better than David McCullough, Jr.'s recent commencement speech.
This I agree with, as well, from a personal responsibility standpoint. By while I agree with it along those lines, I don’t think it is incumbent upon Americans to not demand that the border is secure and that illegal activity be allowed to artificially deflate wages.
I wouldn’t have a problem with the governor telling the police not to bother pulling over speeders who are less than 5mph over the speed limit though.
So 75 in a 70 zone isn’t a problem, but 76 in a 70 zone is? Where do you draw the line? 77? 79? 80? 82?
Seriously, I take your point, but I’d much rather see real reform than “the law is X, but we’re going to do (X-3) to be nice and / or to be more practical.” Of course, I’d also like a pony that would recite audiobooks in Sir John Gielgood’s voice as we canter along, and buy me beer whenever I’m thirsty.
We seem to be stuck in a system whose stated values (law and order! no illegal immigration! American citizens are special!) conflict with our actual values (cheap produce! cheap labor! visually obvious underclass, so the cheap labor doesn’t come from me and mine!). Nobody, even on the left, is saying “I’d be willing to double or triple my grocery bill to get this sorted.” Until they do—I’m guessing a couple of weeks after never—nothing substantive is going to change. What I really don’t want to see is any creeping in the direction of “permanent guest workers” as in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere mentioned upthread, but it’s virtually the only solution that doesn’t rock either set of values.
Why would the left be the ones who want to pay $6 for a tomato? We’re not the ones who think illegal immigrants are artificially depressing wages.
Anyway, the problem with $6 tomatoes is that we’ll just buy them from Brazil or someplace. I’m not entirely sure that putting the giants of American agriculture out of business is a horrible idea from an economic standpoint, given how much we have to subsidize it even at current tomato prices, but I also don’t think turning all our arable land into empty space is a good idea.
Please read more carefully. “Even on the left,” I said, which happens to be the side of the political fence I’m on. And of course nobody WANTS to pay $6 for a tomato, but you would think people would weigh the whole complex system and think “given the option of paying $6 for a tomato or having an entrenched underclass, I’ll take the $6 tomato.”
And the problem isn’t (just) American giant agribusinesses, it’s the fact that human labor is undervalued, and in almost every field, both American businesses and American consumers exploit cheap labor by weighing the monetary cost of goods and services more heavily than the other factors. Granted, a lot of us don’t have the money to make better choices, and granted, figuring out the longterm intangible costs is difficult to impossible.
In other words, I wasn’t advocating the destruction of agribusiness. I was pining unrealistically for a model that would value human beings’ time and efforts and distribute the costs of such valuation more evenly throughout society. I know it’s not going to happen, but I can dream.