The price that has to be paid for robust domestic employment got Trump 2 elected. You can’t have a tight labour market and expect to only pay pennies on the dollar for your burrito taxi.
> The average H-1B household contributes $30,050 net annually — 2.6 times the $11,530 contribution of a typical U.S. household. At the state and local level, governments see a net average fiscal gain of $5,040 per H-1B household, with H-1B workers generating positive fiscal balances in 49 states. The fiscal benefits of the H-1B program are not exclusive to high-income states. The low-income state of Mississippi, for example, nets $4,600 per H-1B household — a figure that is higher than those of 21 other states.
> Despite its relatively constrained scale, the H-1B program has delivered economic returns far exceeding its original scope. Even under severe capacity limitations, estimates suggest the program generates $7.5–$31.8 billion in annual net benefits. Native workers experience wage gains rather than losses, while companies winning H-1B lotteries achieve higher job growth, productivity, and profit margins compared to similar firms denied visas.
The fact is H1B workers are often more educated and better skilled than US citizens. In tech we care less about things like masters degrees and phds but the fact is H1Bs are more likely to have those and more likely to be appropriately skilled for jobs than US citizens. In general they are also richer than the avg US citizen in their society (that's how they can afford to move here for an advanced degree despite the currency exchange working against them)
We have the most important tech market in the world, extremely over represented by both usage and revenue just because of our ability to attract top talent from everywhere else, and that seems modest to you?
even when they make 6 figures, live in a tiny apartment with no furniture, and send back their whole paycheck in remittances each month?
or do you mean the old motel in the scenic locale you used to go as a kid, that has since been bought up by immigrants, has AI art peeling off the walls now and has gone without basic maintenance for 30 years?
The world without them getting remittances every month from the USA is infinitely worse. War/problems abroad that didn't happen because of that remittances are worth trillions of dollars. There's no better form of "FDI" than remittances. Those who think remittances are bad for America are ontologically evil and may they reincarnate as durian fruit or cockroaches.
People don't realize the alternative to importing skilled labor is to not have someone do that job here. The idea that so many US citizens are qualified and sitting on the sidelines while an H1B takes a higher paying job than they currently have is a fiction.
> The idea that so many US citizens are qualified and sitting on the sidelines while an H1B takes a higher paying job than they currently have is a fiction.
I have worked with a lot of H1B in general enterprise and it makes 0 sense to me why the vast majority were ever allowed in under the program. There absolutely have been exceptions to this, but in general it's been awful.
Net positive for the rich elites and a net negative for the working class. And considering the crap conditions H1Bs are often forced to work in under the threat of deportation, not really a benefit for them either.
Of course. HB1s are doing what they think will give themselves and their families a better life, I would do the same, all ire is directed at politicians and governments and corporations.
>US will bring twice or triple its income as US GDP.
That is predicated on the assumption that "hurr GDP go up!" is good for America which is questionable at best and I take issue with far more than any specific point of immigration policy.
It’s a net positive for America.