The I-Squared Act, which does not explicitly mention taxes, raises concerns about potential tax avoidance through the hiring of H1B visa holders. Employers can save significantly on payroll taxes due to lower wages paid to H1B workers compared to their American counterparts. The discussion highlights that while employers may benefit from reduced costs, this practice could depress wages across the industry and lead to higher overall profits, which are taxed at corporate rates of 33-39%. The conversation also critiques the notion that there is a shortage of skilled labor in the U.S., arguing that the focus should be on specific competencies rather than merely the number of STEM graduates.
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mheslep said:The term "tax" does not appear in the bill. How does hiring an H1B avoid taxes?
The only wage connected tax that I know of paid by the employer is their half of the employee's payroll tax. It's difficult for me to see that as a tax avoidance scheme because it is only 6% of the wage (the other 94% savings is the lower wage itself!). What it could result in, however, is higher taxes associated with higher profits (33-39%).Student100 said:Lower wages = lower taxes paid by the employer.
russ_watters said:The only wage connected tax that I know of paid by the employer is their half of the employee's payroll tax. It's difficult for me to see that as a tax avoidance scheme because it is only 6% of the wage (the other 94% savings is the lower wage itself!). What it could result in, however, is higher taxes associated with higher profits (33-39%).
Or is there another, specific tax I'm missing?
I think that's at the very least debatable, even assuming its a given employers are apt to exaggerate shortages. Industry does not per se require STEM graduates, industry requires specific STEM competencies. For example, one current, commonly heard complaint is with CS majors who obtain degrees knowing little about robust software development in teams and have zero experience with recent platforms (e.g. mobile Android, iPhone).Student100 said:America already produces more STEM graduates then industry needs ...
Student100 said:I had thought it was closer to 8 percent for SS and Medicare together. Then you have workers comp payments which vary depending on the job. Assuming most H1B employees are going to work in office environments that would probably be close to ~1 percent. State and Federal unemployment taxes probably won't come into play since I'm assuming most of these employees would also have salaries above the income cap. There's also benefit packages and yearly raises, but these are harder to look at and I'm just ignoring them.
mheslep said:I think that's at the very least debatable, even assuming its a given employers are apt to exaggerate shortages. Industry does not per se require STEM graduates, industry requires specific STEM competencies. For example, one current, commonly heard complaint is with CS majors who obtain degrees knowing little about robust software development in teams and have zero experience with recent platforms (e.g. mobile Android, iPhone).
Daniel Gelernter CEO Dittach said:I recently met a college student whom Facebook recruited as a summer intern at $10,000 a month. A junior developer fresh out of college can expect to earn around $10,000 monthly, plus benefits, a $100,000 signing bonus and $200,000 in stock options. For a more experienced developer, the sky’s the limit. Business Insider reported last year that a startup offering an annual salary of $500,000 was unable to lure a senior developer away from Google because he was earning $3 million a year in cash and stock.
mheslep said:I doubt the H1Bs are coming into the US to compete with the mean "computer programmer" category quoted in those pay scale stats. Rather, I expect they're coming into compete at this level, where the prevailing wage has indeed gone astronomical:
mheslep said:I doubt the H1Bs are coming into the US to compete with the mean "computer programmer" category quoted in those pay scale stats. Rather, I expect they're coming into compete at this level, where the prevailing wage has indeed gone astronomical:
The latter example has to do with outrageous employer behavior and nothing to do with H1B; the Indian immigrants were not H1Bs but entered the country under false pretenses for a few months. If they had been H1Bs, the employer could not have gotten away with the illegal wages.SteamKing said:But H1Bs are not merely being used as stalking horses to slay high-salaried programmers at startups. The famous layoffs at Disney were reportedly reversed after the Mouse garnered a lot of attention and no small amount of negative press over their plans to...
Some tech workers were brought in from India to work on installing systems at an American business and paid as little as $1.21 an hour.
There's nothing to stop them from doing this now.mheslep said:The latter example has to do with outrageous employer behavior and nothing to do with H1B; the Indian immigrants were not H1Bs but entered the country under false pretenses for a few months. If they had been H1Bs, the employer could not have gotten away with the illegal wages.
That said,
i) I'm aware that there are abuses of H1B, and I'm skeptical of raising the cap to over 100K per year because Google's Schmidt thinks its the thing to do.
ii) Abolishing all H1Bs does not necessarily mean US jobs will be retained over a foreign national, as owners/founders can and do pack up and move overseas, or simply start the next Google 2.0 in some other country in the first place.
mheslep said:As the linked story makes clear, and I wrote, those S. Valley jobs are not the norm. If for some reason you find that CEO unbelievable (??), confirmation is easily found elsewhere. And H1Bs don't lose their visa if they can quickly get another job, which somebody at this level likely can.
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Software-Engineer-Salaries-E9079_D_KO7,24.htm
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Facebook_Inc/Salary
http://www.businessinsider.com/a-google-programmer-blew-off-a-500000-salary-at-startup--because-hes-already-making-3-million-every-year-2014-1
Student100 said:Upon termination, the H1B visa expires.
http://www.uscis.gov/working-united...-specialty-occupation-professionals-australiaChange of Employment
Your new employer must file a new Labor Condition Application and a new E-3 visa application. The gap between the jobs must be 10 days or less.
mheslep said:
mheslep said:
http://www.uscis.gov/tools/ombudsman-liaison/practical-immigration-consequences-foreign-workers-slowing-economyLaid Off H-1B Employees Without Advance Notice - What if you are an employee in H-1B status and you are laid off with no advance notice before the end of the validity period? Can you begin working (or port to) another job with a different employer?
USCIS An H-1B nonimmigrant is admitted to be employed by the sponsoring H-1B petitioner. If the employment ends, this condition is no longer satisfied and the individual is no longer in a lawful nonimmigrant status and may be subject to removal proceedings. Therefore, the terminated H-1B nonimmigrant in this scenario may not be able to port to another employer, subject to certain discretionary exceptions.
Depending on the individual's circumstances, the H-1B worker may be eligible to remain in the United States due to a request for a change of status or for extension of stay that is filed while that individual is maintaining H-1B status, or on account a pending adjustment application. In deciding whether to approve a change or extension of status for any nonimmigrant who has fallen out of status, however, USCIS may exercise discretion on a case-by-case basis to grant the extension or change of status despite the failure to maintain status.
There is no automatic 10-day or other grace period for terminated employees holding H-1B status, so once the individual is no longer in a lawful nonimmigrant status, he/she usually must depart from the United States.