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Comment by cuttothechase | Hacker News Reader

100K one time fee will be easily amortized as a pay reduction over a period of 6 years by the H1B abusing companies.

That is equivalent to getting 5 years worth of salary when you work 6, assuming a median suppressed wage of 100K. This does not seem much of a deterrent for any of these involved.

This could actually result in wage suppression for the victim and nothing else in the long run.

Seems to be poorly thoughout?

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It’s a one time fee for the whole of the H-1B visa, so only the first employer who sponsors the visa would pay it. So they have to ensure the candidate stays with them for a whole 6 years for that amortization. I do think well see more attempts to make H-1Bs stick with their sponsor, but depending on state laws that might be difficult to enforce.

Yes, but usually companies exploit loop holes and build exploitative contracts like you need to pay back the cost that we paid for getting you moved, handled and what not etc., and use it as a threat in case the candidate had the thoughts of leaving before the first year...(anything but the h1b fee, since law explicitly prohibits h1b paybacks). Agree it is going to be a state specific variation of the theme.,

The only real solution to the problem they think they're trying to solve is an absolute number of H1Bs allowed and various regulations added for companies to prove they are hiring for talent and not for price. Annual reports on similar position payouts vs what they're paying the h1b employee. Only by bringing true factors into the light would it "evening out the playing field" like the policy makers are saying but trying to rectify with bad policy.

Well it does put a bit more power into the employee's hand so im not sure it is all a bad tradeoff. Usually the company is holding all the cards, but if they just ate $100,000 that they will never get back then their threat of firing someone 3 months in if they don't lick enough boot polish is going to hurt the company too.

or fire someone who makes $100k and make the h1b person work 16 hours a day instead of 8, is probably what the company is thinking, because all they see are statistics and mechanics.

Isn't it over 3 years?

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