[tracer4201]

There’s nothing illegal going on here. I posted earlier that I was at an oil and gas company in Houston, a Fortune 10 company at the time. We had IT contractors from Larsen and Toubro. As an example, one guy who reported to me was paid < $20 an hour after L&TI and another contracting company in the middle took their cut. He wasn’t thrilled with that situation but his other option was to quit and go back to India. The worst part was I couldn’t hire him directly because of his contract. He wasn’t allowed to quit and directly work for us. Kind of live slavery.

[fredfoobar]

> Employers must attest to the Department of Labor that they will pay wages to the H-1B nonimmigrant workers that are at least equal to the actual wage paid by the employer to other workers with similar experience and qualifications for the job in question, or the prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of intended employment – whichever is greater.

source: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/immigration/h1b

According to you, L&T were taking a cut out of the wages. Honestly, you should blow the whistle. L&T or whatever that middleman company is, they need to shutdown their H1-B program.

[BeetleB]

Paying H1-B less than prevailing wage is illegal/fraudulent. However, there are many legal tricks to get around it.

[fredfoobar]

if you know them, make them public, push them to be illegal. Also, I'm curious to know what those "tricks" are.

[BeetleB]

I'm not referring to a deep secret. This is well documented. Just search the Internet for H1-B "prevailing wage" loophole and you'll find some.

(Sorry, not trying to be a jerk, but it is quite nuanced and I don't remember the details).

[fredfoobar]

Convenient.

It’s both obvious and not at the same time, how does that work?

[BeetleB]

> It’s both obvious

Can you please show me how it's obvious?

[fredfoobar]

wait, YOU said that it's obvious

your words:

> I'm not referring to a deep secret. This is well documented. Just search the Internet for H1-B "prevailing wage" loophole and you'll find some.

and in the next sentence you seem to imply that it is not obvious, again your words:

> but it is quite nuanced and I don't remember the details

[vsskanth]

The final wage that shows up in the W2 still needs to be above the prevailing wage for that position. You cannot get an H1B approved without it.

It is simply illegal otherwise.

[ojbyrne]

The contracting company is acting illegally. I've seen a couple of similar stories in California - when they get caught, the officers go to jail.

[triceratops]

> The worst part was I couldn’t hire him directly because of his contract. He wasn’t allowed to quit and directly work for us.

How so? Presumably he signed his contract in India - how would his company enforce it?

[tracer4201]

My company has a clause that we can’t hire people from this company for 9 months. If he waits around 9 months he’ll have to leave the country wayyyy before that.