By law, H-1Bs must be paid the prevailing US wage for the job and the region.
"By law, H-1Bs must be paid the prevailing US wage for the job and the region."
I love that one.. It always makes me laugh.
LOL!
If that was the case, Microsoft wouldn't be bringing them in by the plane load when there are thousands of unemployed programmers in Seattle.
Microsoft's idea of "prevailing" is 60 hour work weeks at half of what american programmers would be paid.
trust me, its not happening.
Uhhhhhh-HUH. Right.
Here's a little hint, from somebody (a) who works with a bunch of folks on these visas, and (b) whose wife used to work for an immigration lawyer...they don't. Employers have creative ways of getting around it.
For example, employers are supposed to "assure" that no American citizens are available in their area for the job in question. Well, where I was working until last year, we had a glut of tech workers due to financial troubles at a local company that had downsized hundreds of people. So my company wrote the job requirements to tailor them EXACTLY to the H-1B applicant they'd already decided they were going to hire. No one else could fit them. They might as well have written "Must be guy named Pradesh Unpronouncable from Bangalore, 5'6", 145 pounds, coming here on a one-year visa."
And as for the whole "prevailing wage" thing...they slip around that too. What my former employer would do was simply list the job a few pay grades lower than if they were hiring an employee to do it. So similar work to what I was doing at "grade 14" for $66k, would be listed on the H-1B paperwork as being done by a "grade 12" at $50k--senior-level stuff, that no $50k American programmer could probably have the experience to do. Now, whether that's what they were paying the visa applicant's contracting company, or whether that's what the guy himself was being paid, I have no idea. But they had to list the salary on the Federal paperwork that was posted in a public area for a period of time before the visa applicant could start work.
I don't have a problem with folks coming here from foreign countries and working; I'd better not, because where I work now is probably 30% Indian with another 10% Oriental (Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese/Chinese), and with very few exceptions they are as professional, as pleasant, as skilled, and as competent as any native-born American. What I do have a problem with is companies bringing these folks in by the thousands while it's hard as hell for citizens to get ANY tech job, even if they're willing to take a pay cut and put up with the crap you have to put up with in this industry.
From a purely economic capitalistic standpoint, yeah, bringing in cheap outsourced labor makes sense for the business owner. But dammit, there comes a point, even in capitalism, where the good of your country and its citizens has GOT to be factored in.
Oh, and by the way...the biggest moneymakers off this whole scam are not the businesses. It's, not surprisingly, LAWYERS. My wife worked in an immigration lawyer's office, and he was paid by the companies, not the immigrants, to deal with the INS (now DHS) and the immense and complex maze of paperwork and BS that had to be done to get somebody to work in this country. It's not easy. Getting a foreigner in here to work is a maze of red tape, a long and difficult process. And the lawyers are making a total killing off of it every step of the way.
}:-)4
> By law, H-1Bs must be paid the prevailing US wage for the job and the region.
This is idiotic. The market solution is to let prices rise.