1. They should be tied to the employee rather than the employer. That way a foreign employee's wages would very quickly match a native's of similar skill because the employer couldn't underpay the employee and give them the choice of accepting it or leaving the country.
2. (mutually exclusive from number 1) If the H1B has to remain with the employer, then its price should be set by the employers bidding for slots rather than having a low fixed price. That way the H1B would go back to its original purpose of bringing in foreign workers with unique and highly valuable skills rather than just another hundred cheap Visual Basic programmers for under the market pay. A company might be willing to pay $50k to bring in an advanced semiconductor researcher but not someone to man a help desk. The fact that over 65,000 applications are made in the first week for the visas shows that they are way under priced.
Exactly right. Either of those two options would solve the problem completely - which is why industry screams bloody murder when either one is suggested. ;)
I totally agree with such a policy. H1B program needs a major overhaul. As an international student who got a Bachelors degree and now pursuing a Masters degree at a top American university, I am worried about my job prospects after graduation. I would certainly love to get the experience of working in a American company before going back to my homeland. My roommate graduated this semester with a PhD in Biomedical Engg after 6yrs of good quality research that produced atleast 2 patents. This is from an American university that is ranked in top 10 for this area. But he is finding it difficult to get a job in the industry because of screwed up H1 policy. Companies don’t want to touch him because of uncertain H1 scenario. He is now contemplating job prospects in Canada, Australia and India.
H1B program needs major changes. US should not lose such skilled people who have PhD degrees and have spent years on research in American labs and contributed to advancement in science in this country.