The American immigrant visa system amounts to indentured servitude, a type of peonage. This medieval institution has a long history in the United States. Before the American Revolution, half of the European immigrants to the British colonies came over as indentured servants. Poor children or young adults, with no prospects in Europe, would sell years of their labor in exchange for passage to the Americas. Across the pond, employers would purchase these individuals from the captains who had brought them over, and they were pressed into service or apprenticed to craftsmen. Servants could be
The American immigrant visa system amounts to indentured servitude, a type of peonage. This medieval institution has a long history in the United States. Before the American Revolution, half of the European immigrants to the British colonies came over as indentured servants. Poor children or young adults, with no prospects in Europe, would sell years of their labor in exchange for passage to the Americas. Across the pond, employers would purchase these individuals from the captains who had brought them over, and they were pressed into service or apprenticed to craftsmen. Servants could be bought or sold, as with slavery. Also as in slavery, servants were subject to physical punishment, including whipping, they could not marry without permission, and their contract was enforceable by the law; escaped servants were captured and returned. If female servants became pregnant, their contract was extended to compensate for the time out of work. At the end of the contract, servants were given their “freedom dues” (a small cash payment) and set free to seek their fortunes in their new homeland. Not much has changed in Silicon Valley. Skilled immigrant tech workers in the United States have effectively one method of entry: the famous H-1B visa. Capped at a small yearly number, it’s the ticket to the American Dream for a few tens of thousands of foreigners per year. Lasting anywhere from three to six years, the H-1B allows foreigners to prove themselves and eventually apply for perma...
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Interesting explanation of American Visa system
