The H-1B Visa (Reading03-lgrazios)

Before I talk about this topic I feel it is important to talk a little but about myself. I am international student currently here with an F1 visa. I am originally from Guatemala, and I have lived there all my life until I came to college 3 years ago. I am not sure what I want to do immediately after college but there is one thing I do know for certain and that is that I want to go back to Guatemala. You might think it makes no sense considering I am here in the US, I made it out of a third world country that is facing a lot of issues with corruption poverty and violence. Yes I am here in the United States at Notre Dame, why would I go back to Guatemala to earn less money then I could earn here. Or you might say that if I studied computer science what is the point in going to Guatemala when Silicon Valley, and the biggest hubs for technology and Innovation are here in the US. And you might be right it makes no sense but I really see it as a responsibility to my country to go back there and apply what I have learned to help improve the situation back there. That is one reason why I am going back but also, my family is back there and I cant just go live to another country I have a responsibility to them as well. So, that being said, my opinion on the H-1B visa doesn’t really carry much weight because I don’t plan on using one. I am trying to get a job here in the use, but I am planning to use my STEM OPT extension to work in the US for a couple years and learn more and gain experiences that I can apply back home.

            One thing that stood out to me about this reading was how it seems that internationals are at an advantage in the job search market, which really surprised me because I thought it was the other way around. Another thing that stood out to me was how companies are hiring Internationals for a lower pay, which just seems unfair because if they are capable enough to be hired for the job they should be earning the same amount. There was also one quote that stood out to me and it was from the article from Derek Thompson called “Is the H-1B Program a Cynical Attempt to Undercut American Workers?”, the quote from his article that stood out to  me was from a part where he is talking about the reasons on why to support the H1-B visa, and he says “Sending their talent and future earnings to other countries wastes their potential contribution to U.S. communities, business, and tax coffers.”, which I think is something that relates to the same idea I mentioned above which is that these talented individuals should go back to their countries and they should go provide their knowledge to their countries which needs it more than the US. But I see how this might also be unfair for the US because we are being “trained” here so why go away with what we learned here, so I don’t know I guess you can see it both ways.