For those who don't already know, H-1B is a program that allows a foreign worker to enter and live/work inside the United States for a 6-year period, after which they can apply for and receive a so-called "Green Card" (permanent residency). These people aren't sought after for their talents, but rather for the company sponsoring their visa to reap the double benefits of paying them low wages (along with lesser benefits, if any) and flooding the US IT job market with cheap labor, which artificially drives wages down across the board. The H-1B wording stipulates that the US company should have searched for a US candidate for the job, but most don't even put up a pretense. In fact I've personally seen positions that were simply posted to corkboards internally within the same company used to qualify. Another stipulation without effect in the H-1B rules is that the employer must pay "the prevailing wage" for the job being offered. But this again is far too nebulous (and ignored) to do any real good; there are wide disparities in pay even within a job title or classification - the companies end up paying what they want, which is invariably a lot less than a comparable American would or should receive. In addition they can lord the H-1B's immigration status over them, resulting in the visa holder being essentially an indentured servant. If the H-1B gets fed up and quits or is asked to leave by the sponsoring company they are either deported, or if they can find a new employer quickly enough, they can move to that employer, but must pay a fine and start their 6-year immigration clock all over again. The bottom line is this program only exists to serve the interests of those who seek cheap labor and want to depress the wages of US IT workers. How can I say that so definitively? Read on...

In the current recessionary economy the H-1B issue is getting more visibility than usual (most people ignore these things unless it directly affects them, unfortunately). So what's changed that is bringing this problem to light? For one, how about the fact that this is the first time in nearly two decades of importing workers with the H-1B program that the number of them living and working inside the USA (at mostly IT jobs) actually OUTNUMBERS the number of unemployed US IT workers? Add the recession's economic pressure on all US citizens, sprinkle in news of rampant abuses of the program by businesses looking to milk it for even more labor cost savings and you have a recipe for a groundswell of public opinion against the program and hopefully the will to reform or abolish it altogether.

Click for more on this issue

"However, there are those in the technology industry who take advantage of H-1B to bring in workers and pay them less than prevailing wages. Waving the flag of immigrant rights gives them cover to push down wages and keep the domestic workforce from organizing. It's dishonest, and it's unfair."

"It's not only laid-off workers who are suffering. In the last 10 years or so, the number of people forced to work as contractors has increased exponentially. Full-time jobs that might have gone to them are being filled by holders of H-1B visas. And that's a double whammy: Self-employed workers generally don't qualify for unemployment insurance, and they pay a substantial chunk of their income for benefits that companies don't offer them as contractors."

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303365