and salad.
Editor | Jiang Yuchi
Have you ever seen a programmer friend who is still changing the code at three o’clock in the morning? he holds a graduation certificate from a famous overseas school, staring at the computer’s “visa draw” tip, his eyes are all hopes for technology landing.
But who could imagine, a paper announcement crashed, this expectation was actually placed on the $ 100,000 price ticket, the Trump administration suddenly gave the H-1B visa fee, and also in parallel launched the "cost money to buy residence" gold card program.
This is not screening talents. It is clearly setting up a money barrier for dreams!
Threshold of $100,000
100,000 US dollars, not 100,000 RMB, not 10,000 US dollars, but a heavy 100,000 US dollars. You know, in the past, even if all H-1B applications were approved, the cost was only a few thousand US dollars. Now it has soared dozens of times, and it has to be paid every year.
Trump said "not willing to pay money to hire Americans", but this is a lot of listening: those Indian engineers, Chinese scientists, obviously the backbone of Google, Amazon's research and development core, clearly promoted the U.S. AI and Internet innovation, is it because companies want to spend more money, they have to be cut off?
The Minister of Commerce also said that "the company needs to make sure that this person is worthless", but the value of talent can be calculated with money? this year took more than 10,000 H-1B Amazon, this year will spend more billions?
Those technology companies that rely on foreign talents either grit their teeth to bear the cost, or they can only move their R&D posts overseas.
As MenloVentures’ Didi Dars said, what is it that attracts talent, that pushes the world’s smartest people out, that America’s innovation advantage, is it to be preserved by crushing money?
The Ironic Gold Card.
What is even more worrying is the "golden card plan": paying 1 million to get a gold card and 5 million to get a platinum card can not only quickly get the right of abode, but also the platinum card can not pay taxes on overseas income. Enterprises can spend 2 million, and even "buy" identities for an unlimited number of employees.
On the one hand, technological talents have lost their heads for $ 100,000, while there are rich people who can spend a million to get the right to reside at a "record rate", this gap is too big.
To know, the previous EB-5 visa, anyway, needs to invest 800,000, now it is better, directly turned into a "coded price-selling identity".
The Secretary of Commerce also expects to raise $100 billion, but is this money earned steadily? Legal experts have said that the president can't create a new visa category without the authorization of Congress. Whether this plan can succeed is still unknown.
But even if it becomes, the so-called "introduction of talents" in the United States does not become "money is enough"? those people who are engaged in research and development do not pay their wallets, such an immigration policy, who's the heart!
What did you get with vitality?
There is a saying that “governments can make quick money in the short term,” but in the long run? eMarketer’s Jeremy Goldman is right, it’s short-sighted protectionism in exchange for U.S. innovation dynamics.
Now is a critical time in the global AI competition, but the United States is setting up cards for talents. Those technical talents who originally want to take root in the United States can only turn to Europe and Asia.
How many H-1B workers are at the heart of research and development in California's tech parks? India accounts for 71% of the approved applicants. How many technology companies do they hold up half the sky? If these people leave, can the Internet and artificial intelligence of the United States still maintain their advantages?
Critics used to say that enterprises abused H-1B to suppress wages, but now they increase fees across the board, but what hurts is the real talents and the innovation of enterprises. This is where to protect local employment, and it is to push the competitiveness of the United States into the fire pit.
conclusion
A visa, which was supposed to be a pass for talents to cross the borders, the right to reside, was supposed to be the recognition of contributions, but now, H-1B has become a "heavenly ticket", the gold card has become a credential of "money plug".
Those programmers who stay up late changing code, those scientists who do research in the laboratory, their dreams are never measured by money.
The new policy of the Trump administration, can make a quick money, can make some people better, but in the long run, the talent is rejected, the money is used as a guilt, can the United States really retain its innovation advantage?