Just put $200k minimum salaries on H-1B positions and see the demand for the program dry up.
“OPT”
It is very important to get a job in your field soon after graduation.
If you don’t, employers will think others have passed you over for cause and do likewise.
In addition to competing with H1V visa holders, US college graduates,
especially in IT, are also competing with OPT visa holders.
<><>This is optional practical training, basically an extension of the F1 visa,
<><>F1 is a student visa, which allows a STEM graduate, to work in the US 3 years after graduation.
<><>the OPT visa holder doesn’t pay Social Security or Medicare taxes, so they’re 15% cheaper,
<><>they are typically paid 42% less than their U S counterparts.
<><>So a US college grad is fighting this three-headed monster.
<><>graduating with student debt,
<><>H1B visa holders and OPT Visa holders who cost an employer significantly less,
<><>and US grads compete w/ a US employer’s ability to simply offshore that work to India.
“From sea to shining sea, we must be H1B Visa free!”
Exactly!
Because of above, Americans do not like to study these, arguably pretty hard, topics.
You work your butt off in college and then you get displaced by some H1B guy or they even force you to train you Chinese replacement!
No wonder, there are shortages in these areas.
The solution is painful for economy.
Banning or restricting these visas.
After a while, Americans realize, there is good carrier looking for them in STEM, and start enrolling themselves in big numbers.
Then wait 4-5 years, and voila, H1B becomes obsolete!
all together something like 8-10 years of shortages!
What the Silicon Valley elite really mean but can't say is that they can pay some modern day tech coolie from India 1/2 or even 1/3 of what they can pay an American tech worker. That's what they mean by a "shortage", and why they claim there's an overwhelming need for an inexpensive and liberal H1B guest worker program.
I was talking to a student who organized a tech job fair. He said none of the big name companies (microsoft, apple, cisco, etc) sent representatives.
Tech companies have been passing over American tech graduates for decades.
Why pay first world wages when you can pay third world wages?