>> H1B holders are not allowed to switch jobs. The process requires a lawyer, ~$6k, months, and friendly intent from the old employer.

This is actually not true. You can switch jobs. Your new employer will take care of lawyer, fees, and has to have positive intent. Doesn't matter what old employer wants. I don't know how long it takes these days, but used to be fairly quick with premium processing.

I'm not disagreeing H1B abuse doesn't exist, but I can assure you its not everyone. What percentage of H1Bs are underpaid and which companies are to be blamed, I leave that to data.

As written by Bloomberg’s editorial board:

> First, the lottery — by design — doesn’t reward top talent. This deficiency, coupled with loose oversight, has made it vulnerable to gaming and doomed to mediocre results. A recent Bloomberg News investigation found that IT staffing firms routinely flood the pool with entries, often for more visas than they need, crowding out companies that play by the rules. These practices — which US officials have called fraudulent — prioritize a sector that tends to pay relatively low wages for routine IT work. (New rules to curb abuse don’t go far enough.) As a result, many of the world’s smartest engineers are shut out from the most lucrative, in-demand jobs, and shortages at the top end persist.

> Second, visa holders with middling skills are more likely to be substitutes for, rather than complements to, American workers. Replenishing the job market with extraordinary talent that can’t be filled domestically increases productivity, innovation and growth; saturating it with lower-paid workers will tend to drive down wages. Official data show that 85% of H-1B petitions are awarded to employers paying well below the median wage, as determined by occupation and location.