I'm taking downvotes here and up there... but people are missing the point.
H1-B became a trap because of dual-intent.
Someone who always intended to leave the US, as H1-B requires, shouldn't be too bothered that they can't (easily) switch jobs, that a job loss could send them home sooner than anticipated, and they shouldn't have to accept substandard wages or housing or any other body shop abuses we hear about... because they can always just go home, like they'd always intended and should have planned for.
Dual-intent baited people to come here on H1-Bs on the assumption that they'll eventually get permanent residency, bring their family over, attain citizenship. Plenty of people risk their lives to get here with no hope of citizenship; putting up with body shop abuses on a path to citizenship is minor in comparison, a lot like staying at a job you've come to dislike to run out the vesting clock.
And H1-B is such effective bait because the rest of our immigration policy is screwed up and discriminatory.
H1-B became a trap because of dual-intent.
Someone who always intended to leave the US, as H1-B requires, shouldn't be too bothered that they can't (easily) switch jobs, that a job loss could send them home sooner than anticipated, and they shouldn't have to accept substandard wages or housing or any other body shop abuses we hear about... because they can always just go home, like they'd always intended and should have planned for.
Dual-intent baited people to come here on H1-Bs on the assumption that they'll eventually get permanent residency, bring their family over, attain citizenship. Plenty of people risk their lives to get here with no hope of citizenship; putting up with body shop abuses on a path to citizenship is minor in comparison, a lot like staying at a job you've come to dislike to run out the vesting clock.
And H1-B is such effective bait because the rest of our immigration policy is screwed up and discriminatory.