The numbers we're getting are slightly south of that, too.

In house, like Google, will have people on staff who do this as their job (ie costs lower).

A startup looking to sponsor an H1B, based on my experience, is going to be quoted ~$20k in legal + filing fees from a small-medium law firm (ie not Fenwick but not USAVisas.net either [made up site, you get my drift]).

I know the costs are a little higher if you have a certain percentage of h1-b employees on your staff. But 20K is a little out of control.

We did it in a company I was working before and it was a little above $3k (in Chicago).

It's actually that high. (H1B Visa, plus accompanying visa for family members)

Right, last I heard it was $5k for an H1B, around $10k for a Green Card.