Big Tech’s new hiring hurdle: Why bringing international talent to Seattle is now more expensive

Part of the Seattle skyline as seen from the waterfront. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Two new rules governing H-1B visas took effect last year, targeting the program’s two most persistent criticisms: that foreign workers were taking jobs Americans wanted, and that visa holders were essentially indentured to their employers in order to remain in the country. So are the changes doing what they were supposed to do?