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Comment by samfisher83 | Hacker News Reader

Well google average salary is 127k. I don't think that includes rsu, bonus, etc. So I would say the salary is on par with what they are paying Americans. If you compare the H1-B to GC ratio its pretty close.

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Google is clearly not the problem. They have 4k H1B but they also have 60k USA employees.

Most large software companies are not the problem - they actually do use H1B the way it's intended, i.e. to supplement their work force when local talent is unavailable on short notice; and they offer equal pay for equal work. They also normally sponsor their H1B employees for green cards as soon as they're eligible, so we're not talking temp workers here, so much so as a skilled immigration stream.

(Disclosure: I was an H1B worker before, so this is based on personal and anecdotal experience.)

Places like Infosys and Tata are the problem. That's where H1B is milked for cheap labor, and where all those legal schemes to lower the salary as much as possible are heavily used. So far as I know, most workers that they hire do not get green cards, either.

Problem is, the latter group is responsible for most H1B applications.

I think Google would pay more than they do now if the H1B program did not exist or if visas were given to people with the highest salaries rather than randomly assigned.

Apple is 136k, Facebook above 140k, Google 127k, Microsoft is above 120k..

so, these companies and many others which are paying in above ranges aren't violators.

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