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Comment by blindriver | Hacker News Reader

They are given a tremendous amount of generosity. Once they are in the GC process, they can extend their H1B indefinitely, something that wasn't available when I got my GC. The spouses are eligible for an EAD, meaning they can work whatever job they want. They have 60 days to find a new job. They can buy houses, they can job hop, they have a lot of flexibility considering that they aren't citizens.

There isn't a single Indian H1B holder that doesn't know they need to be here 15+ years to get their GC and if they get laid off, they need to find a job quickly. And yet, they still gamble on it. Very often they win and get their GC. Sometimes they lose and they have to go back to India. It sucks, but they signed up for it. The US doesn't owe them any sort of guarantee besides the flexibility and generosity that they already give them.

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We will have to disagree. Forget about the inhumanity in letting someone build up a life and become part of the community for over a decade, and then kicking them out. The US owes its own people to not be giving employers even more negotiating power in setting labor prices by having access to labor they have even more leverage over.

This policy favors no one other than employers who want lower wages. If the US government was not so short sighted, it would be soaking up as much educated and productive labor as it could in the face of declining fertility rates.

There isn't a single H1B holder that doesn't know their work visa isn't a guarantee of citizenship. You calling it "inhumane" is nothing but garbage.

That's like saying the illegal immigrants who cross Rio Grande are fully aware that they may die while doing so. So it is OK to let them die... they signed up for it.

The point is that economic migrants often know they will be mistreated in the destination country, but that doesn't make it morally correct to mistreat them.

Your example is irrelevant. H1B holders are not being mistreated at all. They are being treated fairly. They are coming in on a work visa, and when they no longer have work, they need to leave.

Are you suggesting they should be given permanent residency just for getting a job? I'm sure you'll find that no country in the world does that.

If they are being treated fairly then that's one thing. Implying that if someone knew they are going to be treated unfairly then it is OK to treat them unfairly is another thing. Implying that some people of a particular race has done something bad, so it is OK to punish every person of that race, is well, racist.

I agree. However, since H1B holders are treated fairly, it doesn't apply in your situation.

It has nothing to do with race. You keep saying it's racist when it's not. The system is very fair, and especially fair toward people from India. You can't claim it's racist, you have no evidence, all the evidence points to it's very fair for Indians.

It is not the system I have a problem with. It is your statement that all Indians must pay for the behavior of some (i.e., body shops). Also, your claim of Indian friend reminds me of [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_not_racist,_I_have_black...

You're the racist here, accusing everyone of racism and lying about what they said when it's clearly written above. It's a sad way of living life but I guess some people can't live with the truth.

> They are coming in on a work visa, and when they no longer have work, they need to leave.

This is not accurate, and the crux of my post. They need to leave when they no longer are able to find an employer willing to sponsor them for an H1-B and do all the paperwork.

It would be much less of a problem if what you wrote was true, that the work visa meant they could stay as long as they were working.

If they don't have an employer, they don't have work.

Curious if you are an Indian too. You seem knowledgeable of the situation.

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