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Comment by mynameishere | Hacker News Reader

Do you? I wonder if you have a feel for the correct number. One million a year? Two million? One hundred million?

If your line of work is such a commodity that the wage goes down to zero as the number of workers increases then you're not in very good shape already.

Take lawyers. Even when there are far too many people who meet the minimal qualifications, the better ones still get payed a huge amount because those who are paying them recognize the value of quality.

There will still be lots to exclude outsiders from higher pay even if it becomes easer for them to get in.

The underlying assumption seems to be that H1B = cheap labor? As far as I know, this is certainly not the case.

Then you're dismissing the entire argument against them. The primary problem people have with H1Bs isn't protectionism, it's that H1Bs are held hostage by their employers (even after 2000, it is tricky for many visa holders to change jobs and retain legal working status).

The result is that the market for H1B labor is corrupted in favor of employers, perverting the fair market wage for developers. Prior to 2000, there were all sorts of horror stories about poorly trained tech workers living in dorms working for half the prevailing wage; they were probably not all made up.

It is difficult to change companies if you are on L1B (intra-company transfer from a foreign country). If you are on H1B, you can change any time.

I am just curious to find out why people think L1Bs/H1Bs are cheap labor. May be it is a popular myth?

I came here in 2003. I was getting above "market salary" even then. Now I get way more - about twice the market salary (I've got skillz man! :-p) - which is the only reason I am hesitating to quit my job to do my startup full time.

I know many people who are on L1B and H1B. I don't know of even one underpaid person! USCIS is really strict on reviewing your W2s. Even the supposedly hostage L1Bs are payed fair salary. May be the situation was bad before 2000 and has been since corrected? I don't know.

[voted you up]

Where'd you come in from, and who placed you?

India.

Cognizant (ticker: CTSH)

Why do you ask?

To round out the data point you provided. Sorry for sounding terse.

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