I cannot comment on how Facebook, Google or Microsoft do their hiring. However, i have experience working with companies
like Netscape(both before and after being part of AOL), H.P, Oracle, Maxtor. The way these companies hired H1-Bs - they
would hire them as contractors through firms like TCS, Wipro, Infosys or smaller IT firms which basically had a small office with
an accountant and couple of clerks to do the billing and wages. I went through one of these smaller companies and so did a lot
of other people then (this is about 10 years back, things might be different now). If they like your work, they would offer you
employment (mostly at market rates - depending on how good they think you are and how badly they need your skills) and
process your H1-B visa. That's how i was hired as a full time employee by my eventual employer. That's the route most H1-Bs
used to take. I doubt Google or Facebook or even Microsoft go to India to hire 10k H1-Bs as you mention, but I wouldn't know.

You might be in the 1-5% then. Most H1-B visa holders work as contractors through their employers. They are paid below average wages while their employers charge their clients per-hour billing. It's rampant in companies like Infosys, Tata Consultancy, Wipro etc. If you read the news, it says these companies command most of the H1-B visas. So you denying that it doesn't happen or that it might be a one off case is really disingenuous. I speak from both personal experience and from accounts of my friends and people i know in the IT sector. Also, I never mentioned about any threats or abuse. I just said that green card is used as a carrot to keep you on low wages with your employer. If you quit while in the middle of the green card process, depending on which stage you are in, you might have to start the process all over again. That's the reason why i called it indentured labour. There are enough documents detailing this practise if you care to look. It's not exactly the same as working for McDonalds since even average pay in IT is quite high. So most people don't complain and eventually move to a company they are working as contractors for, as full time employees.

None taken. Cheers :)

As someone who worked on an H1-B visa about 10 years back in Silicon Valley, i can confirm that these visas are being misused by IT consulting companies. They take the majority of these visas and then use them as baits in india for IT professionals. Most indian IT companies are nothing but cheap labour shops. If there is a dearth of IT professionals, make H1-B non-employer specific. All it does is make you a bonded labourer for 4-6 years with your employer who promises to process your green card while paying you a low salary. This is a big scam and i hope enough people take notice so that something is done about it. Most people on H1-B won't speak about it cause they don't want to go back home or lose their job. This is what keeps it going.