[JumpCrisscross]

> Do you really think there aren’t Americans that could fill those roles?

Would they fill them at a similar level of quality? That is to say, if you forced similar wages on both and removed the cost of bringing someone from overseas into the country, would the employer hire the foreigner? If so, I see the visa programme as fulfilling one of its roles: adding to the American braintrust. If not, you have a point.

Most studies I've seen don't attempt to answer this question, instead devolving to the easier-to-answer if useless "could they have found an American who met the job requirements".

[slantedview]

> Would they fill them at a similar level of quality? That is to say, if you forced similar wages on both

Forcing certain wages on American workers is not the way that H1B is intended to work which is basically the point here. H1B is ostensibly intended to allow employers to fulfill roles that cannot be filled at any salary by US workers.

[oh-kumudo]

If anything, coders aren't the ones who are under paid in US. Their salary are HIGH.

To be the devil's advocate, the H1B visa is created specifically for the purpose to bring down the cost of employers, by opening up to global talent supply, no matter under what disguise. And software industry seems to me is exactly the sector what H1B is intended to apply on.

[wolfgke]

The interesting metric is "salary - costs of living". Since the costs of living are very high in SF, they are not paid that well.

[oh-kumudo]

Not every programmers are living in SF.

And I do think it is misleading to say programmers' salary is not high because of the cost-of-living. Cost-of-living applies on EVERYONE, there are many waiters/drivers/artists living in SF, and I don't believe they get additional rebate because they are not doing computer work.