30 votes

Flight fares surge after US President Donald Trump's surprising H-1B visa move; ‘Extremely bad situation’

20 comments

  1. [2]
    streblo
    Link
    The worst part of this is how there is a carve out at the administration’s discretion. Basically Trump consolidating his power over the tech industry through corruption. I would expect zero noise...

    The worst part of this is how there is a carve out at the administration’s discretion. Basically Trump consolidating his power over the tech industry through corruption. I would expect zero noise from tech executives over this, just more sucking up.

    27 votes
    1. hobbes64
      Link Parent
      Yes expect endless extortion and corruption, just like with the tariffs and the crypto deals. We basically have president Tony Soprano except Trump is less articulate than Tony. As usual, the...

      Yes expect endless extortion and corruption, just like with the tariffs and the crypto deals. We basically have president Tony Soprano except Trump is less articulate than Tony.

      As usual, the president does not actually have the power to do this, except (Republicans in) congress are allowing it.

      14 votes
  2. donn
    (edited )
    Link
    I was struggling to break the news to a prospective US employer that I've since become even more scared to move to the US. This makes things a lot easier lmao

    I was struggling to break the news to a prospective US employer that I've since become even more scared to move to the US. This makes things a lot easier lmao

    21 votes
  3. l_one
    (edited )
    Link
    trump really just likes cruelly fucking with people so he can watch them panic and scramble. Damn it, mid-term elections are simply too far away, I have difficulty imagining how much more damage...

    trump really just likes cruelly fucking with people so he can watch them panic and scramble.

    Damn it, mid-term elections are simply too far away, I have difficulty imagining how much more damage will be done by then. Will we even have those elections - or if we do have them will they have been corrupted and broken to the point that they aren't functional anymore?

    11 votes
  4. [10]
    skybrian
    Link
    From the article: …

    From the article:

    According to the new guidelines, the H1-B holders have been asked to reach the United States before 12:01 a.m. EDT (9:31 a.m. IST) on September 21. After that, no H-1B worker will be permitted to enter the US unless the sponsoring firm pays the $100,000 charge.
    Top IT companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and JP Morgan have warned their H-1B visa holders not to leave the US. Those currently overseas have been requested to return to the United States immediately.

    Within two hours following Trump's statement, the cost of a one-way ticket from New Delhi to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York increased from about ₹37,000 to ₹70,000–80,000.

    “Flights from New Delhi to NYC are currently $4,500. They are all rushing back to the states because they are worried about the new H-1B visa rules,” one X user claimed.

    Social media was inundated with reports of Indian travelers leaving US airports in the middle of their flight.

    At San Francisco International Airport, for example, a number of Indian passengers persisted on getting off the plane, causing an Emirates aircraft to be delayed for hours.

    “It was complete chaos… many H-1B visa holders just refused to fly once the news broke," a traveller named Masud Rana posted on X.

    Similar incidents occurred in other transit centers, such as Dubai.

    "An international flight packed with Indians from the Bay Area had completed boarding," explained chartered accountant Kaustav Majumdar, adding that "when panic erupted and people pleaded to get off."

    According to immigration experts, it is nearly difficult for anyone who is presently in India to meet the deadline due to the limited timeframe.

    It takes 15 to 16 hours to fly directly from Delhi or Mumbai to New York, and as India is over 10 hours ahead of Eastern Time, even those who embark on the morning of September 20 IST will arrive after the US deadline.

    7 votes
    1. [9]
      CptBluebear
      Link Parent
      I'm somewhat surprised. Tightening H-1B visa rules wasn't popular with the tech moguls. It's a large part of their cheaper labour near/offshoring strategy. Musk for one was vocally critical of...

      I'm somewhat surprised. Tightening H-1B visa rules wasn't popular with the tech moguls. It's a large part of their cheaper labour near/offshoring strategy.

      Musk for one was vocally critical of changes to H-1B.

      As for all those people in your quoted parts... Yeah, for them this is possibly their livelihood drying up within hours.

      8 votes
      1. [8]
        skybrian
        Link Parent
        Apparently, business influence on the US government and Trump in particular was greatly exaggerated. They can beg, but they’re not going to talk Trump out of anti-business policies like tariffs or...

        Apparently, business influence on the US government and Trump in particular was greatly exaggerated. They can beg, but they’re not going to talk Trump out of anti-business policies like tariffs or anti-immigrant cruelty.

        8 votes
        1. [5]
          hobbes64
          Link Parent
          They can bribe him though. Like give him a big gold trophy and their business will get an exception.

          They can bribe him though. Like give him a big gold trophy and their business will get an exception.

          8 votes
          1. [4]
            skybrian
            Link Parent
            Building a business on an exception that could be yanked at any time seems risky.

            Building a business on an exception that could be yanked at any time seems risky.

            7 votes
            1. [2]
              psi
              Link Parent
              Probably relevant: "America’s Future Is Hungary." The Atlantic. It might difficult to build a business off of an exception, but it's definitely feasible to build a business based off this...

              Probably relevant:

              Orbán also talks a lot about “the people” while using his near-absolute power not to build Hungarian prosperity but to enrich a small group of wealthy businessmen, some of whom are members of his family. In Budapest, these oligarchs are sometimes called NER, or NER-people, or NERistan—nicknames that come from Nemzeti Együttműködés Rendszere or System of National Cooperation, the Orwellian name that Orbán gave to his political system—and they benefit directly from their proximity to the leader. Direkt36, one of the few remaining investigative-journalism teams in Hungary, recently made a documentary, The Dynasty, showing, for example, how competitions for state- and EU-funded contracts, starting in about 2010, were deliberately designed so that Elios Innovatív, an energy company co-owned by Orbán’s son-in-law István Tiborcz, would win them. The EU eventually looked into 35 contracts and found serious irregularities in many of them, as well as evidence of a conflict of interest. (In a 2018 statement, Elios said that it had followed legal regulations, which is no doubt true; the whole point of this system is that it is legal.)

              That story is just one of many that Hungarians recount to one another, just not in public. The Dynasty also describes the Kisfaludy Tourism Development Programme, which distributed 316 billion Hungarian forints ($860 million) in grants. Two-thirds of those grants went to 0.5 percent of the applicants; almost one-fifth of them went to projects that were, or later became, connected to Tiborcz. Not that Tiborcz is the only recipient of government largesse. Lőrinc Mészáros, at one time the richest man in Hungary, a gas fitter turned entrepreneur who is an old friend of the prime minister’s, once attributed his fortune to “God, luck, and Viktor Orbán.” Other beneficiaries come and go, depending on Orbán’s whim. One Hungarian businessman told me that “you can tell who is in, who is out by seeing whose companies begin growing. If you are in, then your company is growing. If you’re out, your company goes from this big to this small. You see it in a year or two.”

              It might difficult to build a business off of an exception, but it's definitely feasible to build a business based off this administration bending the rules in your favor.

              10 votes
              1. indirection
                Link Parent
                As someone vaguely thinking about starting a business (probably not...) this seems like something that would bother even billionaires. What if the leader gets pissed off because of something inane...

                As someone vaguely thinking about starting a business (probably not...) this seems like something that would bother even billionaires. What if the leader gets pissed off because of something inane you did? What if he demands something you especially don't want? What about competitors in other countries whose leaders are more flexible, so they focus more on innovation and cost-cutting?

                5 votes
            2. hobbes64
              Link Parent
              I don’t know other details about this but I’d assume at least that this will increase outsourcing. Can’t afford to bring in lower wage workers, so we’ll just lay off a division and have the work...

              I don’t know other details about this but I’d assume at least that this will increase outsourcing. Can’t afford to bring in lower wage workers, so we’ll just lay off a division and have the work done offshore.

              5 votes
        2. [2]
          Fiachra
          Link Parent
          He seems to enjoy deliberately causing economic harm to make people come grovelling.

          He seems to enjoy deliberately causing economic harm to make people come grovelling.

          5 votes
          1. teaearlgraycold
            Link Parent
            His MO is burn something down so he can take the scraps for himself.

            His MO is burn something down so he can take the scraps for himself.

            4 votes
  5. [4]
    Wulfsta
    Link
    Hasn’t this been done through acts of congress in the past? Bills, signed into law? This is another order where I am doubtful the executive branch has this authority, but since it is handled by an...

    Hasn’t this been done through acts of congress in the past? Bills, signed into law? This is another order where I am doubtful the executive branch has this authority, but since it is handled by an agency that may actually be the case?

    6 votes
    1. [3]
      DefinitelyNotAFae
      Link Parent
      It's probably illegal. But that requires lawsuits to progress and/or congress to act. The first takes time, the second won't happen.

      It's probably illegal. But that requires lawsuits to progress and/or congress to act. The first takes time, the second won't happen.

      11 votes
      1. [2]
        Wulfsta
        Link Parent
        I do realize this, but I’ve made it a point to call it out on posts like this where I don’t see legality already mentioned.

        I do realize this, but I’ve made it a point to call it out on posts like this where I don’t see legality already mentioned.

        3 votes
  6. [2]
    skybrian
    Link
    New H-1B visa fee will not apply to existing holders, official says (Axios)
    4 votes
    1. DefinitelyNotAFae
      Link Parent
      Unfortunately not how the order is written. I suspect people will have a lot of trouble getting back in the US if they're traveling.

      Unfortunately not how the order is written. I suspect people will have a lot of trouble getting back in the US if they're traveling.

      9 votes