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> A big complaint seen about H1B process is that it's used to import cheap workers instead of great workers - i.e., not increasing USA quality, but allowing employers to decrease average wages.

It is illegal to do that. As part of the H1B process, an employer must demonstrate that a temporary H1B worker will be paid the prevailing wage, using the hiring record of others in the same job role. It is extremely expensive to go through the H1B process and certainly not worth it to get "cheap labor". If there's abuse like this, it's certainly not from the big employers, because it would never pass audit and it simply isn't cost effective.

The biggest H1B employers are large IT consulting companies that do a round-robin of cheap Indian IT workers to work in the US and then go back home. The prevailing wage requirement is not grounded in reality. If it were, why would you bring IT consultants from India rather than hire domestically?

Oh my! You are right: http://www.businessweek.com/table/08/0305_h1b.htm (business week) shows that the H-1B is used mostly by Indian Outsourcing companies. It's the "outsourcing visa".

If companies want to outsource there is little capital controls preventing them. There doesn't need to be these "inexepensive labor" U.S. government provided subsidies for big companies in the form of guest workers.

I'd recommend vaccinations for expatriate managers and not more "outsourcing visas".

I know that is already [supposed to be] illegal, however, there are valid complaints (such as [1]) that this is happening on large scale in a formally legal way.

My proposal should hopefully be more resistant to such manipulations.

Furthermore, if you have a genuine need to import talent, you should state that you're willing to pay not 'prevailing wage' but above that.

[1] http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9215405/H_1B_pay_and_... quoting "U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat whose Congressional district includes Silicon Valley .... the average wage for computer systems analysts in her district is $92,000, but the U.S. government prevailing wage rate for H-1B workers in the same job currently stands at $52,000, or $40,000 less."

As a hiring manager for a large company where I have personally hired sponsored H1B workers, I can tell you that what the employer demonstrates is a perfunctory notice in the workplace, which is worded in a precise way to fulfill all legal requirements and completely confound anyone who may have an interest in knowing a position is (not really) open. 90% of people if you showed them this piece of paper they would not even understand it relates to a job opening.

Now in my case, I was always hiring people who I considered to be very strongly skilled (relative to peers working in industry). But having also hired contractors I also know that a lot of the body shops will bring in people and charge them at rates that leave no room for doubt that they are low-skill/low-quality/under-paid.

Consultoconacorp needs people with six years of Go and Raspberry Pi experience. We looked and can't find them.

Basic microeconomics shows that by increasing supply of labor, prices for labor go down.

The law of supply and demand can not be repealed by the HR department of Micrsoft, Wipro or Tata consulting filling out some paperwork.

This would help so much. I only wish the government were actually receptive of such suggestions. Basically, my future along with thousands of others is dangling on immigration reforms by the congress over the next few years.

We could also eliminate first past the post hiring by having a defined period for H1-B submissions and only letting in the highest paid 100000 that are submitted.

What about industries such as design, crafts or acting? They also hire H1Bs but cannot afford as high salaries as software engineering firms.

H1B is not designed to bring in affordable workers, but to bring in workers that USA doesn't have.

If you can only afford to pay $40.000, and no americans want to do that job at that price, then tough luck, you need to pay more to motivate people to train and learn the many years needed for your profession X; instead of bringing in workers at wages that demotivate americans to train for profession X, damaging the skilled labor supply for the future years.

Or you can hire a beginner with potential and train him yourself - that result would also further the goals of H1B program by getting more people with those qualifications.

But if you really, really need that unicorn-rarity specialist NOW, then you can pay for that; and $100k salaries (and much larger) are actually paid for top-rated designers, craftsmen, artists and actors.

I like your suggestion, though there is a small problem with it. It is hard to find a 100k job if you just got out of the school.

This. I'm almost at the 100k mark now (2 years later) but fresh out of college, I wasn't. I still get paid tons above the prevailing wage though. It's just that setting an arbitrary limit is kinda, well, arbitrary. It doesn't take into account any of the differences between jobs / industries. The US needs a lot of engineers in areas where salaries aren't overinflated.

I think setting a percentage could be slightly better. Say, 20% above prevailing wages. That has the effect you want.

The problem is that companies are good at deflating the prevailing wage. Especially those companies that apply for massive amounts of H-1Bs.

I'm personally partial to the bidding process (i.e. we will pay this employee $150k if they get this H-1B). This would mean employers that couldn't pay above the H-1B strike price wouldn't qualify. Which I think is probably better than the status quo.

Is H1B intended for workers just out of school? Should it be?

Bring in senior workers with school, experience and proven track record; but for just-out-of school jobs employ the local graduates.

Believe me, I went to school here and got my masters from here. I see my bretheren who "worked" out of country who don't know difference between quicksort and mergesort. I am not even talking about stuff like time complexity, turing machines or functional programming. What H-1B shouldn't be is for people who do SAP, business or someother stuff like that; which by the way is what most of H-1s are going for.