Considering the H1B positions are for highly specialized roles that couldn't be filled by Americans, despite the best efforts of the companies, the salaries aren't very impressive. Maybe these H1B employees are doing the jobs Americans refuse to do?
For the companies listed (Amazon, Apple, FB, Google, MS), salary is only a portion of compensation. Stock grants and bonuses, which aren't reflected on the H1B application, can easily add another 30%-100% depending on company and role.
The way it usually goes is "Well we're giving you a visa on top of the salary, y'know".
Source: I've heard that exact line before. The idea is that you're valuing the ability to stay in the US semi-permanently higher than you value $$$.
You also have to understand that the US market for software engineers is absolutely gutted. Companies are pretty much picking scraps because everyone worth a damn already has a job and isn't looking. The kind of people I've worked with who get a big-ass paycheck in the US just because of the colour of their passport is absolutely heart-wrenching.
This is a really common refrain, and I was going to write a sarcastic remark (since these are obviously not specialized positions) but then I figured I would read a bit more first. Even at a prior employer, I remember hearing about how the application had to be written a certain way to demonstrate only the immigrant was qualified, and that it was a role that couldn't be filled by an American.
But upon reading the USCIS requirements, DOL, and even Wikipedia, I actually don't see anything about having to offer the job to an American first, or having to demonstrate the job can't be filled by an American. The only requirement is the job has to be "specialized" (as-in not menial), and you have to pay the "prevailing wage".
Did there used to be a requirement to post the position and disqualify American applicants? Because that's certainly the lore around H1B, but it doesn't seem to be actually specified as a requirement on the official sites.
People may be confusing the requirements for an H1B and those for a green card, specifically the PERM.
The H1B program may have its flaws, but I guarantee you that the people who get jobs at Microsoft/Google/Facebook/Amazon/Apple aren't the oppressed cheap immigrant labour that articles like this purport them to be.
Most of the americans just forgot how the America was built. If you would take a bit of your time to read your own history, you would be impressed that it was build not by the americans itself.
Even "different shades" is a generous description of the chosen colors. And I'm not even seeing graphs until I click through, just a white box. Hopefully the first and last time TC embeds this junk.
