Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | adrr's commentslogin

H1B should have never been a lottery. It should be a stack rank by salary to deal with the over subscription.

H1B also includes things like high school foreign language teachers.

https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=&job=french+language+immer...

A stack rank by salary would mean "H1B is big tech employees" rather than "these are professionals who have skills."


The H1B was intended for highly specialized skills that where there is no local talent available.

"Foreign language teacher" isn't a "highly specialized skill"? Tons of Americans work as English teachers abroad.

I don't believe it is (someone who knows two languages isn't remarkable, someone who can teach others isn't remarkable), but there should probably be a visa for that if we need it. I personally don't believe even a lot of the software/IT industry jobs merit H1Bs.

They work abroad under the respective country's work visa. H1B is US specific, specific visa. The US has plenty of other work visas.


> I don't believe it is...I personally don't believe even a lot of the software/IT industry jobs merit H1Bs.

The law doesn't work based on your beliefs.

> someone who knows two languages isn't remarkable, someone who can teach others isn't remarkable

First: it depends on the language.

Second: the combination of two relatively commonplace skills in one person isn't commonplace. "Be top 20% in two things instead of top 5% in one thing" is standard career advice.


Foreign language teachers is the one category where it's easy to believe it's hard to find local talent. I've seen them in small towns across the country. Sure, you may have a Vietnamese speaking US citizen in New York, but they don't want to move to a small town in the Midwest.

Excatly. It was meant as a temporary program in the early-90s. It wasn't meant as a permanent solution for skilled labor staffing.

We've had about 35 years to build a domestic pipeline of Novell NetWare, SunOS 4, Windows 3.0, and dBASE IV developers and experts.


Then you will have unscrupulous contracting firms miscategorize employees to take advantage of those different quotas.

Increased scrutiny of H-1B-dependent employers could well be in order. There is already that classification in place and restrictions... though I suspect that underfunding of the Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division may be contributing to that lack of scrutiny.

Putting additional restrictions and requirements for reporting would likely be a good thing. I am hesitant to say "H-1B needs to go" when it does serve other non-technical positions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B-dependent_employer

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/62c-h1b-depende...

In the past there have been specific carve outs for specific fields. The H-1A was the section for nurses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa#The_Immigration_Act_...

It might be appropriate to separate H-1T (I'm sure its not up to section T yet, using that as a placeholder) for tech workers and have some sort of proctored test to ensure that the skills represented aren't "I know how to use Claude" along with filing fees sufficient to cover the administration of the test.

This would move tech workers out of the H-1B category allowing it to return to its original intent of skilled workers (teachers, medical technicians, private sector researchers...).


These companies have a demonstrated track record for having no qualms about bald-face lying. Suddenly we'll have an influx of "private sector researchers" to cover those tech jobs.

I was more referring to things like... a horticulturist. https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=&job=horticulturist&city=&...

Elsewhere in DOL, there's a definition of computer professional.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/17e-overtime-co...

    The employee's primary duty must consist of:
    The application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software or system functional specifications;
    The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications;
    The design, documentation, testing, creation or modification of computer programs related to machine operating systems; or
    A combination of the aforementioned duties, the performance of which requires the same level of skills.
If the job definition is covered in that, then it would be classified that way.

Or if the job is classified by the BLS as 15-0000 ( https://www.bls.gov/oes/2025/may/oes_stru.htm#15-0000 )

All this still requires proper funding of the Department of Labor and its ability to investigate H-1B-dependent employers.


That would make sense if the purpose of the program was to get the most valuable top talent. How do we decide who is the most valuable? We let the market decide. But that would cause upward wage pressure, which would undermine the real purpose of the program.

the problem is H1B is not only tech, there are nurses, some medical professionals, non-tech specialized workers.

Stack rank would just give all the visas to big tech and starve US hospitals and every other industry


Medical field is under a green program. But following your point. If nursing paid more and had better conditions, it would encourage more domestic talent. H1B should be used for to get the worlds top talent otherwise it will be used by businesses to save money and depress wages.

top talent is different visa (O-1). H1B is merely specialized worker, not top tier global talent.

Nursing does pay a lot and conditions havent changed much over the years. Certified anesthesiology nurses get paid like $132/hr, and still there is shortage.


> It should be a stack rank by salary to deal with the over subscription

Considering salary based on country of origin, adjusted for position, would probably be the best way to ensure little abuse (apart from the indentured servitude-like features). If you want to hire the best, they'll be overpaid in their origin markets.


Oh that's a really good way to handle it that would actually follow the intent of the program.

You can't find someone to do a job? Then you need to compete on wage with other companies to bring someone in. Or, you know, raise your salary for local employees.


A simple stack rank and cut has the problem of where to draw the line.

Also, how to value pre-ipo stock

There are other good options as well (an auction, etc). They all have problems, but there are mitigations. It could be vastly improved even if it’s not perfect.

It’s just the will to do it.


But at the moment there are quotas right? So it's basically the same - there are N visas to give out so you rank by salary and pick the top N.

Another problem: different industries and roles natohace different pay ranges.

If you decide on a single pay cutoff software engineers will starve everyone else out. And there are of course great, well paid people in other hard to hire industries.


Maybe that's ok? It would raise pay in other industries.

I doubt it. Most are limited by the economics. They just don’t make as much per employee as software.

Something about those industries would change. They might charge their customers more or train up more people or get more creative with technology. Or the market might decide it can do without that additional productivity from those companies.

the salary weighted lottery today is a good step in the right direction IMO.

I think it has to be by industry and role. Software, mechanical engineering, teaching, medicine, etc are all very different

It needs to compensate for country and position.

Ranking by salary would basically mean ranking by industry, not just skill

I have a couple problems with that idea that I've never been able to figure out even though the idea is good.

First, how do we ensure it doesn't become a slave program: that is you get hired for X, and they are paying you that, but you want to find a new job because you don't like your boss. Or perhaps they hire you for X, and you are doing Y (again, nothing illegal)

Second, you hire someone to do a job, and they realize you have to pay them and so they decide to do nothing (or get a second job that they are working instead).

I can find answers to all of the above, but they all fail to: somebody is aware of your solution - how are they going to abuse it. I haven't solved this secondary abuse issue.


All the Kingdoms in middle east are very fragile. Gulf coast countries economies are crashing due to the blockade. Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia. One Arab spring away from a new government and this could be the spark.

Fuel prices is appropriate content for hacker news if EVs are appropriate content for hacker news. Just like electricity price is appropriate content.

The other side is Al Qaeda. So who do you support? Wipe out the Houthis and you'll get another Syria where Al Qaeda controls the country.

Edit: Downvote me as much you want doesn't change the facts. the front line fighters for Yemen government is Al Qaeda. It was same thing as Syria which is why we have an Al Qaeda leader as their president.

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/02/middleeast/yemen-los...


Houthis are allied/in the early stages of an alliance with Al-Shabab though

Yes, but there is growing cooperation between Sunni and Shia Islamists. Support none, all kill gays, infidels and “misbehaving” women.

Saudi is the exactly same as Iran. Both far right countries. Both execute gays. Both don't support women's rights. Both execute kids. My point is there is no good side so the best option is not to pick a side and get out of the middle east.

Nuclear power is expensive. One of the most expensive ways to produce electricity when you capitalize expense of the construction of the plant into the electricty cost. Path forward is wind/solar + storage which is cheapest next to hydropower.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levelized_cost_of_electricity


The Wiki page above didn't really go into it much, but how much of the cost of nuclear power is self-inflicted? I.e. regulatory costs and actually paying the cost of externalities up-front. And if we were more consistent at building such facilities and producing said fuel, would there be cost reductions from scale?

~99% of the cost is due to red-tape regulations. It's so obscene that they require certified backup genererators for the backup generators and 3-4 layers of fail safes. Then you need to wait YEARS to get all the permits and licenses. Oh and if you get preapproval for a componant (say the generators) but too much time has passed from installation until you actually are ready to go, you need to go through the process again, hence the constant delays. An actual nuclear power plant is actually stupidly cheap to run if you cut all the red tape. Stupidly. Like $50k of fuel produces $50 million of electricity good.

Edit because I forgot to mention this, if coal or ccgt were regulated like nuclear is, not a single one would be profitable. And even if you take into account every single death due to radiation poisoning (from any source) nuclear would still be the safest power source in the world. Literally worker deaths from installing wind power plants exceed it.


Nuclear power plants are ultimately not that different from coal power plants. Typical estimates for the capital costs of coal power are ~$4000/kW, which can be used as a lower bound for the costs of nuclear power.

The costs are high, because construction industry has suffered from poor productivity growth for decades. Renewables are getting cheaper, because they rely more on mass-produced stuff and less on hiring people to construct a big specialized building to house the power plant. Regulatory costs of nuclear power also largely come from poor quality control in construction industry. Regulators require something specific, subcontractors try doing that but often don't get it right, and regulators order them to tear it down and try again.


Also Uranium has 3.5x in price over the last 6 years and will continue to go up. its a really rare element/isotope.

Uranium price accounts for just ~10% of the overall cost of nuclear power.

Most US debit cards are 0.1%. Credit cards have to give the user a 0% loan for 60 days, someone has to pay for it including debt write offs. Can't compare a debt product with a cash product.


Israel's leader is wanted by the international court for genocide. And lets not forget how Iran's current government took power? US installed a dictator in Iran because UK was angry that Iran nationalized the UK owned oil fields. This led to a coup, which resulted in the current Iranian government.

There's no good guys. Why is the US even there?

Edit: downvoted to -3. Did i say anything that was untrue? Or do people not like the truth?


> US installed a dictator in Iran because UK was angry that Iran nationalized the UK owned oil fields.

> Did i say anything that was untrue? Or do people not like the truth?

It is widely assumed, but not factually correct, that the US was responsible.

On August 15th 1953 the CIA staged a coup to overthrow the government, but it failed. By the next day the State Department was actively trying to enter into diplomatic talks.

Three days later a group of clerics headed by Ayatollah Borujerdi took advantage of the situation and stirred up unrest that was ultimately responsible for the Shah taking power. They had been concerned about Mossadeq embracing secular liberalism and a referendum that dissolved the Majlis (parliament/congress). MI-6 had offered them support, but they rejected it.

I would highly recommend this book if you can get a copy: https://www.amazon.com/Iran-CIA-Fall-Mosaddeq-Revisited/dp/0...


> On 19 August 1953, Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh was overthrown in a coup d'état that strengthened the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. It was instigated by the United Kingdom (MI6), under the name Operation Boot[5][6][7][8] and the United States (CIA), under the name TP-AJAX Project[9] or Operation Ajax. A key motive was to protect British oil interests in Iran after Mosaddegh nationalized the country's oil industry

Straight from Wikipedia


That was the understanding until the CIA released a bunch of documents in 2017 which revealed that it was such an abysmal failure that they almost called off the entire thing.

The attempted coup brought out a lot of pro Mossadeq protestors. It wasn't until the 19th when clerics organized anti Mossadeq protestors that it took hold.

Might be worth flagging to Wikipedia editors for a review.


Idk which is correct, but I really wouldn't take Wikipedia at face value for this kind of topic. Would dig into the sources if I were more interested.


Even if we take these claims at face value, think about how this looks from the Iranian side:

- Failed coup attempt threatens government

- 'Ooops sorry just pranking you lol'

- Distracted government challenged by internal actor

- Power vacuum followed by monarchy

I'm sorry, this is like disclaiming responsibility for shooting at you on the grounds that most of my bullets missed and the one that hit just winged you. It's not my fault that your grumpy neighbor exploited the situation to attack you and then a third actor exploited the situation to seize all your assets!


> This led to a coup, which resulted in the current Iranian government.

I mean, you're passing over the violent revolution from socialists and Islamists.


America had a violent revolution. So did practically every other country. Are violent revolutions de facto bad?


Yes. We had no good justification for war against the crown circa the American revolutionary war. The crown spent a lot of money defending us vs the French in the French and Indian war and were totally justified in levying the extremely low taxes that they did on the colonists.

We should be part of Canada right now


Maybe defending and taxing the colonies should've been the colonies' decision, not England's. Even if England gave them a favorable deal that they then broke, England's mistake then.

Also, I only care about what outcome is better for us in the long run. Being part of UK or Canada wouldn't have been better. Though many colonies' independence movements have led to disaster.


Huh? I'm just pointing out that their supposed timeline of events missed a rather notable one.

Also, yes, your insight that not all revolutions are equal is correct. The US "revolution" (really more of a war for independence) was a net positive. The Iranian Revolution (which truly was a revolution) was a net negative.


>Edit: downvoted to -3. Did i say anything that was untrue? Or do people not like the trutH

Isn't it an oversimplification to say there are no good guys? O


The funny thing is that the prosecutor for the ICC (Khan) who issued charges against Netanyahu was just removed today over sexual assault allegations, which had previously not been reported because the Muslim victim was worried that the charges against Netanyahu would be dropped. Khan literally messaged her “Think about the Palestinian arrest warrants”. Palestine has been such an effective political tool for the Muslim oligarchs and patriarchy. So anyway… more bad guys.


Pirating millions of dollars worth of books would land people in jail. Government went after Aaron Scwartz for "pirating" scientific journals.


Aaron Schwartz was re-publishing the journals, which is the core concern or copyright and indeed where the word "copyright" comes from. Anthropic could get in a lot more trouble if their models are caught reproducing copyrighted work from their training set wholesale.

I think the Aaron Schwartz case is incredibly vexing because he was obviously acting out of a sense of altruism without personal self-interest. I don't think he deserved the book getting thrown at him like that. But the whole copyright system, which people seem to think is simultaneously good and bad, kinda rests on not allowing those kinds of violations


I've linked this several times, but LLMs are capable of reproducing entire books. Researchers were able to extract books nearly verbatim: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.02671


I didn't think about this parallel, but that's just so sad.


It can go on and on. Short seller 1 sells to party A. Party A allows short seller 2 borrow shares. Short seller 2 sells shares party c. On and on.


Give your kid some quarters so they can call you on a pay phone like the old days.


That'd be fine if there were any payphones still around...


Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: