Please find the evidence that this abuse of H1B visa holders is widespread and get back to me. Have you any idea how much havoc a group of disgruntled IT professionals in a company could wrought? Before I retired we hired a number of Indian programmers - because we literally could not find Americans who wanted to work for a small non-IT consulting firm - we designed and implemented surveys and psychometric instruments. One was truly outstanding, two were marginal.
Subsequently we outsourced to Nepal and then had to hire a Nepalese (H1B visa and all) to effectively manage the contract programmers.
Start reading the replies here if you really care, rather than are being contrary.
Are you f*cking kidding me? I’ve been a software engineer for 31 years. The abuse of the system is insane. The last place I contacted for would only hire Indians, me and another guy were the only two white guys there. When I got my perm offer I went to them and laid things on the table and it was a no go. I was too expensive for them and they hired an H1B to replace me. I’ve seen this crap for 20 years now.
I don’t know where you’re located but perhaps your area doesn’t have a lot of software people. That business sounds eclectic, maybe you were unwilling to give people unfamiliar with that particular niche a chance to learn it.
There are a lot of white, black and hispanic engineers out there looking for work. They are willing to relocate. Eff your company.
I've only got one anecdotal data point for you. One of my boys was ABD (all but dissertation) in physical chemistry. He "mastered out" of the program for reasons that aren't relevant here. Very good with computers.
He took a job with a seismic oil exploration company in Houston for a couple of years, and described H1B abuse to me in great detail.
When the program was initiated, they set a wage level for H1Bs of 60K in 1989, which was then a high wage, and in line with the idea that these workers were essential, and couldn't be found in the US.
That wage level hasn't been changed since, which means that H1Bs compete directly with our college graduates. Normally I'd say competition is good, but there's a side issue. If an H1B loses his job, he has to leave the country; but if he lasts 3 years (maybe its 4, I'm not sure), he can get a green card and be on even footing with Americans.
What does that mean? It means that an H1B shop (mostly H1B workers) can demand 70 or 75 hours of work from everyone in the company, because the H1B's have no choice but to do it.
It's very discouraging to American STEM workers, because they are treated like crap. They have to work ridiculous hours, no overtime, and they are often treated worse than their foreign co-workers in terms of promotions because the bosses are of foreign origin, too.
I might add that before I retired, I had a technical business, and we had a couple of H1Bs. However, they were hired because they walked in the door when we were hiring. They weren't preferentially sought out. So, when my boy described the working conditions, at first I was dubious--but as he filled in details, I believed.