Comment by therealwill | Hacker News Reader

Comment by therealwill | Hacker News Reader

Sponsoring an H1-B employee, in theory, is always more expensive than an hiring a local because not only do you have to pay an H1-B visa employee the same wage as a local you also have to pay the lawyer and visa fees. Often times employers will also have to provide an employment contract guaranteeing x number of years of employment in order to increase chances of visa approval.

In practice, this is not the case. H1-b visa workers have poor mobility and little recourse when employers cheat the system by providing lower than market pay and requiring the employee to pay their own H1B visa fees. Furthermore, there is little (if any) enforcement that the employer seriously considered domestic applicants at market rates over the H1B applicate. 99% of the time the H1-B is already hired and the employer is posting a job 100% tailored to that H1-B applicant.

Even if they hire in at a market wage (and they often don't), you don't have to give H-1B workers raises or promotions.

> Even if they hire in at a market wage (and they often don't), you don't have to give H-1B workers raises or promotions.

And do you "have" to give "normal" workers raises or promotions? Is any employee entitled to such a trajectory?

Yes but a "normal" worker can easily change jobs. With H1-B it is very difficult and expensive to change jobs so they have to either leave the country or suck it up.

Also, that's assuming that the company couldn't have hired by going substantially above the market rate. If there's a talented person you could hire who insists on 150K a year, when "market rate" is 100K a year, sure, you save a bundle by sponsoring an H1B.

They would have to post a job and allow citizens to apply to the 100k job. If the job posting is requesting requisites that would be expected for a 150k job, then this would be fraud. If the company is lying about the job requisites in order to be at the 100k market rate, this would also be fraud. Proving it, is difficult which is why everyone abuses the system.

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