Unless there is way to verify that those wages are actually being paid for duration of the H1-B employment after work visa has been granted, then there is no point in competing or asking them to pay a certain wage.

Right now there is also such a thing as prevailing wage for a particular job type, but companies have ways around it. They apply for H1-B and for Green Card using high salary/wage numbers, and later use some legal tricks to sidestep this requirement and pay less.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duracell_Bunny

I wish it was that way, but lawyers at my company were much smarter than I was, or maybe they had more balls. I was paid below the prevailing wage on the approved PERM application. Before it got approved and after - nothing changed.

You have some incorrect information here.

International students indeed pay themselves. They always pay out-of-state rate and cannot qualify for state resident status no matter how many years they lived there. Some have grants or scholarships or TA/GA positions in grad school, just like any other grad student.

Some students come here on J-1 visas and they are required to go back home for certain time before coming back.

Most students come on a regular F-1 visa. They are not required to go back to be able to change their status.

Not entirely sure about J-1 students, but F-1 students are not allowed to work outside of campus. They are allowed to work on campus for 20 hours per week. Usually it is a minimum wage job.

All of the foreign students get about year and half of OPT (Optional Practical Training), which basically allows them to work to gain some experience.After OPT, J-1 students go home and F-1 students try to get a job and H1-B visa to continue working. H1-B is issued for 2-3 years and can be renewed up to maximum of 6 years. Before H1-B expires, students (now workers) try to apply for Green Card. It is a lengthy process - could be several years. None of the experience gained on the current job can be used to justify Green Card application.

There is another side of that coin. Whenever I get calls from recruiters (even though I removed my resume from public places years ago), I tell them I am not interested. I tell them that, because I am confident that they will not offer me what I need to consider switching jobs. I simply don't believe that after wasting a lot of my time on interviews, I would be given an acceptable offer. It is easier to stay out of the job market and say that I am not interested.

I am not desperate. I have a good job. I have good qualifications and skills. However, I will not bite an empty hook. Some vague description of the job and non-narrow pay range will not entice me to apply for that unknown job. I simply don't need it. If you need me, you'll have to do the work to make me want to work for you.

If IT salaries experienced the same kind of growth that CEO salaries experienced over last 20 years, then I would be on the job market even while being satisfied with my current job. Pay and perception of the average pay do matter.

It is 6 years max, not 10. After that they have to go back and can't extend H1B anymore. Also, any experience gained at your current job cannot be used to qualify you for a green card, which is the only way to stay and keep working after 6 years on H1B. Also, if they are fired or quit they have 10 days to get he fuck out and technically that time cannot be used to find another job and just is a grace period for travel arrangements to leave the country.

Student loans and cost of living and cost of education have nothing to do with it. I got all of my several degrees in US universities. Paid out-of-state rates, since as a foreign student I could never qualify for in-state rate, no matter how long I lived here. In the end, I still got slave-labor pay rate just so that I could get my foot in the door.

Pulse detector can be fooled too. Check the end of this presentation, where he tried different molds and techniques, and finally succeeds opening a safe that detects pulse using a fake fingerprint: DEFCON 19: Safe to Armed in Seconds: A Study of Epic Fails of Popular Gun Safes.

Sometimes I don't mind microtransactions, but they have power to ruin otherwise perfectly good game, and that's my major problem with them.

My friend's house was broken in twice. Their barking dog didn't help at all. First time she was thrown out of the window and was found wandering outside later, and the second time she was locked up in a closet.

I just read from a Russian news source that some people are also trying to benefit from the situation by breaking their own windows in hope that government will give them some kind of compensation.

As a foreigner in USA who worked on H1B, I will tell that, yes law makers should be creating laws that make it easier and cheaper to hire Americans than H1B workers. Don't think of good or evil in terms of "people" or "world", but try to realize that each and every country should focus on their own first and should not be increasing own unemployment just not to look xenophobic. H1B's should be a temporary solution while you are training your own citizens.

They really do. Especially when you are in IT person, who will most likely have access to all kinds of sensitive data. I once worked for a company that could not find a replacement sysadmin (previous one left himself) for almost a year - some candidates failed criminal background check and some failed credit check!

If you are ever in trouble that might lead to a criminal record of any kind - do yourself a favor and hire the best lawyer whether you can afford one or not (borrow).

I worked under H1B and have switched several employers over time - it is doable, but it is not as easy as you think. If you find another employer before you are fired, and if that employer agrees to file the paperwork for H1B, then yes, you can "easily" switch jobs. I was working as a contractor for a company that wanted to hire me directly and even made me an offer, but it was too bad for them, since neither they nor their lawyer knew what to do and I ended up going somewhere else.

Also, you have 10 days to get out of the country after you are fired. However, these 10 days will still be counted as a gap in your legal status and in most cases you will have to leave the country to get a new H1B, i.e. you will be a the mercy of the immigration officer in your own country and even then officer at the border can refuse you the entry w/o an explanation.

As a Green Card holder or a Citizen, you can go to your boss and say "give me a raise or I quit", but as an H1B worker you are pretty much stuck with whatever pay was given to you. There are also legal tricks to make sure that you don't get the salary that company promised the government they will pay you.

After a while H1B holder would want to get a Green Card, but that is a long process that requires you to stick with your employer once documents are submitted. This creates another opportunity for employers to impose their will on you.

Current laws help companies to find cheaper labor at expense of Americans. Instead of raising caps, they should change laws, so that it is more costly to hire H1B workers, i.e. tax companies for each and every H1B and if they really need these workers they will have no problem paying the tax.

You also have to be licensed by state, which may or may not issue such license, and be checked by a doctor to be able to speak "freely". There are also should be "free speech" FREE zones, just to bring it in line with the Second amendment. After all, what is good for a goose is good for the gander.