[ExpatCanuck]

I'm joining this discussion rather late, and if something akin to what I want to say may have been posted already, I apologize for not reading all the posts.

I recently hired 2 new employees, one a US citizen and one an H1 visa holder. They are both being hired to do the same type of job and are both being paid salaries that are very close in range to one another. We are a full service consulting firm and don't make our money providing only 'bodies'. I think where the abuse is happening is the body shops that hire H1 visa holders at very low rates and then 'farm' them out to other companies at slightly below prevailing rate.

[FormerLurker]

I recently hired 2 new employees, one a US citizen and one an H1 visa holder. They are both being hired to do the same type of job and are both being paid salaries that are very close in range to one another.

Well at least that's better than laying off the US citizen in order to make room for the H1B. One question though. Why not just hire two Americans? That WOULD seem to be the easier way to go instead of having to import someone from another country.

[fogarty]

If you hired an H1 Visa Holder over a equally qualified American citizen, then I'd say you need to question your patriotism. If that were the case, I'd question your loyalty, as would many many other citizens.