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Comment by gdilla | Hacker News Reader

Not all H1-B workers come via body shops. FB, Google, MSFT, Amazon all hire their own H1-Bs and pay wages no American could complain depresses anyone. This is how I came. It boggles the mind that body shops are allowed to exploit this system and abuse workers who come and do their best to drive wages down. The one solution is end the indentured servitude aspect of it. If H1Bs are free to move around and work where they please, the abuse would end overnight. Free markets work when the labor force also has, you know, freedom.

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That's a horrible idea. The whole point of the visa is to service a specific job that was impossible to fill. It makes perfect sense that an H1-b holder should be forced to stay at only one job and not be allowed to compete on the wider job market.

The solution to the abuse of the visa is to get rid of all the legal and bureaucratic tests and hoops and auction off the slots instead. The firm with the winning bid gets to import a foreigner.

If this is really about filling important roles where it's impossible to hire or train an American, the winning bids should be in the hundreds of thousands. If it's really just a system of wage suppression, well the bids will be low, for all to see.

If you want indentured servitude, that's how you get indentured servitude. It is also, not a system of wage suppression that people think it is (although it certainly is abused in that way). The entire pool of H1Bs represent a tiny pimple of the US workforce.

That's an absurd comparison. The visa holder is not bonded and can return home at any time.

The work visa system is obviously broken. Forcing employers to put a dollar value on these supposedly necessary visas goes pretty far to fixing all the problems.

But it is effectively indentured servitude, because the workers see it as the first step to immigrating. Everyone knows this.

The workers are wrong, then. That is not the purpose of the H1B. Anyone who thinks it should lead to a green card should be barred from getting the visa.

The H1-B is a dual intent status. There are categories that are strictly non-immigrant intent, TN work permits fit this category. Border guards can and do test that you have non-immigrant intent during normal border crossings while under this status ("Where is your home?" "what will you do once your TN is over?").

If it really was intended that H1-Bs not have immigrant intent then there was a legal framework already in place to ensure that. Most likely it is you that is incorrect about the purpose of these H1-Bs.

The "dual-purpose" nature of the H-1B basically means that (1) you are not prohibited to enter on an H-1B with the intent to stay permanently, and, perhaps more significantly (2) you aren't required to leave the US for a period of time after entering on an H-1B before getting an immigrant visa which will let you stay permanently.

But it is still a non-immigrant visa that does not lead to permanent residency or citizenship, but requires you to qualify for, apply for, and secure an immigrant visa if and when you want to become an immigrant rather than a non-immigrant worker.

said by someone who doesn't understand US immigration. H1B is a non immigrant visa, sure, but it can open the door to the immigration process via company sponsorship. I know because I did it, and many others do too. Applying for a greencard from your native country is counterproductive. Basically a 10 year wait for some. Why bother.

> it can open the door to the immigration process via company sponsorship

That's wrong and it's wrong that it worked for you. You should leave.

yeah! The ones who did it legally should leave. You're very solution oriented.

They desperately need to turn this into an auction system so only the best candidates get chosen. It is also tough for those of us who have to work with sub par H1B candidates and clean up their mess.

Yes, but none of those companies save Microsoft are anywhere near the top of the list of companies employing H1-B workers. The top employers for H1-B workers are mostly bodyshops like WiPro.

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