[Guestmodinfo]

I don't know why the world is so happily criticizing American politicians. Let me tell you Indian context. One of my friends is an African who studies in a university here. She likes it being here and the group of friends that she has made here over bachelor's and master's. I asked her why don't you stay here and get a job here only. She said something about 5 crore rupees (544,000$) being paid by the employer to her or to the government I am not sure because it's such a big amount either way it is unachievable. So I don't understand why everyone gets to point fingers at Americans. I'm positive many countries are protectionist like this. Maybe it's a good thing maybe it's a bad thing. I honestly cannot tell.

[Zigurd]

It's a complicated thing. If you read the H1B Visa requirements as plain English, they are restrictive enough to prevent the abuse of those visas is a tool for holding down wages. In theory a high fee for each visa is unnecessary because the employer would be paying a high salary to someone absolutely unobtainable domestically.

The meaning of unobtainable by recruiting domestically has been tortured to death by lawyers. I don't know what to do about that. $100 K feels like too much except for a relative handful of engineers on very high value projects. But it does have the simplicity of a direct effect on anyone trying to cheap out by using H1B visas.

If employers hadn't been caught doing anti-poaching deals, I'd have more sympathy for them.