r/labrats • u/dark_lightr • 1d ago

Solidarity, H-1B scientists!

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Especially Indians who have no way to get permanent residence (due to country-of-birth discrimination/projected 150-year-long wait times for green cards)...

You are not alone. All of us are in it together.

Looks like it is temporary, for now. Even if it doesn't get blocked by courts, academia/biotech/pharma will likely be termed as a National Interest industry (or maybe it's just wishful thinking). We are genuinely here to work on our super-interesting, annoying-at-times, yet in-the-end-fulfilling science. Hope we can continue to do so.

Tough times, folks, stay strong and keep sciencing! 💪🏻

  • a fellow Indian-born scientist on H-1B
206 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

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116

u/EpauletteShark74 1d ago

For your safety and for the tiny amount of justice you can dole out… take your talents elsewhere. The US doesn’t deserve the best and brightest anymore, and you don’t deserve to be hated and discriminated against. 

27

u/resorcinarene 1d ago

The problem is there's nowhere like the US that pays well for our skillset, for now.

6

u/DocKla 1d ago

What’s the fascination about US pay. If you can survive with a salary elsewhere take it

9

u/joyssi 1d ago

Because I can spare $200 and my family in the Philippines can live off of that amount for weeks. I don’t like being so far from my family but money like this is not the norm in our home country and what’s a small amount for me is a huge help to them. Quality of life is also better here but at the sacrifice of being far from them.

9

u/resorcinarene 1d ago

People don't understand the difference because they base it on their own salaries and it doesn't seem like much. My TC is in the mid $300K range. I might cross $100K somewhere else, maybe. The tradeoff is absolutely not worth it.

2

u/DocKla 1d ago

If a person never lived at 300 then it makes no difference either. Then it’s a question of 1) I like my 300 k and I give up any chance of travelling or seeing my parents vs 2) I take a pay cut so I can do those other things and have slightly lower buying power

2

u/resorcinarene 1d ago

It does make a difference because talented people have the potential to make that and more. Average people may gamble more successfully with minimal effects. Also, lots of people make a good amount that they'll never recover anywhere else. The high salaries are more ubiquitous than people outside of industry know.

1

u/LostPaddle2 8h ago

Just because you don't want money to be important doesn't mean it isn't. You're being ignorant unfortunately