The Curse of the H1-B Visa Program

Moreover, the company didn't have the ability to determine what it was going to pay the new employee, Hunt says. Instead, the Missouri Department of Labor determined the employee's salary. While LMS wasn't trying to offer a cut-rate salary -- indeed, it was willing to pay for the skills its needed -- the fact that the company didn't know what it would be paying made budgeting difficult.

The Wage Differential

Perhaps most disturbing about the H1-B program: its apparent use by some companies to bring in large numbers of relatively low-skilled workers, rather than those possessing specific expertise, and pay them below-market wages. For instance, Infosys, the IT consulting firm, was approved for 10,000 H1-B visas between 2007 and 2009, Prof. Hira said in his testimony. Wipro, another consulting firm, hired more than 7,000 H1-B workers over the same period.

"They're not using the H1-B for the best and brightest," he says. In fact, the GAO report found that less than 1% of employers garnered one-quarter of the H1-B approvals over the past decade. The program doesn't limit the number of H1-B visa workers that any one company can hire, Hira notes. (Neither Infosys or Wipro responded to a request for comment.)

A 2007 report by the Center for Immigration Studies shows a significant difference between the wages paid to H1-B visa holders and their domestic counterparts. "H-1B wages averaged $12,000 below the median U.S. wage based on occupation and location," according to the report, "Low Salaries for Low Skills Wages and Skill Levels for H-1B Computer Workers."