[sbaus387]

I believe this is handled by the concept of the prevailing wage. I'm not suggesting it is well handled but in theory, you do have to earn at the level or higher dictated by the prevailing wage for your position.

If I'm not mistaken, there is an effort to push either this number higher or some other general salary requirement to around $100k/yr. I'm sorry I don't have precise information here.

Having prevailing wages of ~40k in areas where some people are paid >70k is probably a reason why some companies can hire below 'market' prices.

[proberts]

There is no question that USCIS is more inclined to approve H-1B petitions where the offered wage is above the so-called Level 1 wage, which is the lowest acceptable wage in the DOL wage database.

[tchaffee]

Not sure what USCIS stands for but I think DOL is Department of Labor.

I did a search here: http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?code=15-11...

Which is the Level 1 wage of a computer programmer in Silicon Valley. $55,203... my jaw drops.

Clearly companies in the US are using immigrants for cheap labor. This hurts US workers, and the immigrants are being taken advantage of too. Although to someone from a developing country, that salary might look like a dream.

I'm still pro-immigrant, but we've got to get the base salaries in line with average salaries of local talent.