[theocean154]

We need to start distinguishing between the H1B abuse of several large foreign consulting companies and the seasonal low skill jobs in our discourse. You yell "let's reform the visa process" in a crowded room in this country and everyone cheers for different reasons.

[Zigurd]

That's right, it isn't black and white. There isn't one knob to turn. If you read the visa regulations, it looks perfectly fine. But "body shops" game the system. Because, short of litigating every job description, there is no visibility by regulators into job requirements and whether applicants meet those requirements, H1-B has hijacked for the purpose of wage suppression.

There's also no bright line between the generally bad actors and the good guys. Even R&D-oriented high tech companies that often use H1-B for the intended purpose of importing otherwise unobtainable talent also use H1-B (and other methods like anti-poaching agreements) for wage suppression.

Reform needs to be flexible and enforced by financial incentives, like auctioning visas at a high reserve. It does not need to be cheap for employers.

[sjg007]

I think wage suppression was a side effect despite good intentions. In addition, H1Bs are/were a mechanism for outsourcing companies to win US IT contracts. Auctioning visas may not solve this problem.

Other causes of recent wage suppression include the no-poaching and other gentlemen agreements among the big players in the Valley. In addition the basic, I'm not going to pay more than the other guy (or the minimum I can get away with).

Wage suppression comes in other forms too. Asking for previous salaries, asking for W2s etc... Some companies are so large that they just refuse to pay more as well. But that's just "the market" at that point. In every company there's some maximum value for you.

The only way to escape this is to start your own company.