The H1B Visa program has been corrupted. In the IT field job descriptions are written so that they can eliminate qualified US citizens and then hire cheaper labor from abroad. I’ve seen this first hand. The applicants from abroad are not more qualified, they will just work for less.
The program was always corrupt.
It was always about importing cheaper foreign workers with no recourse in the American political system, in order to lower wage scales for highly paid Doctors, Nurses, and Engineers. Every other rationale use to justify this program was (and is) a cover lie.
Corporate executives all too frequently love this sort of totalitarian power and constantly lobby the politicians to gain it.
“The H1B Visa program has been corrupted. In the IT field job descriptions are written so that they can eliminate qualified US citizens and then hire cheaper labor from abroad. I’ve seen this first hand. The applicants from abroad are not more qualified, they will just work for less.”
What you say is absolutely true, in all cases. Or, at least 99% of all cases.
An H-1B from India, with a bullsh!t degree and BS set of credentials will work for 1/3 of what an American will, and the American has a real degree and real credentials.
$20-$25 an hour on contract work with no benefits.
And companies write the job description to match the proffers they receive from staffing agencies...all the while knowing it’s a big BS story.
They don’t even have to sponsor the H-1B, it’s done by the staffing agency.
A dirty, corrupt racket.
The only way to fix it is to require, by law, that any H-1B that replaces/displaces an American worker must receive the very same salary and benefits.
Or, better yet, eliminate the program altogether.
What we need to do is make it expensive enough to get one that companies will not sponsor an H1B visa unless they really need the skill the person brings. It needs to be MORE EXPENSIVE to sponsor an H1B visa than it would be to hire an American for the same job. The key there being MORE EXPENSIVE. That will eliminate the cheap labor express.
... and nobody checks to make sure the "cheaper labor from abroad" meets the job description that no American citizen could meet ... because they never do.