Yes, the current H1B system is broken. People will find loopholes in the future replacement as well. Will the new system be better? I am not sure. A couple of

Yes, the current H1B system is broken. People will find loopholes in the future replacement as well. Will the new system be better? I am not sure. A couple of fixes would help: (a) Remove the dependency between the visa holder and the company that sponsors H1B. Initially, every h1b holder needs a company to sponsor. But break this indenture after 12 or 18 months. (b) Check the wages against IRS W2. Here, people complain about wage disparities between midwest and nyc/bay area. If someone says we need to have $80K min in Des Moines, IA., and $130K in Sunnyvale, CA, people will abuse this system through intermediate contracting agencies. Basically, one works in the bay area for $100K, while claiming on the paper that he is working in Iowa. (c) lets accept that fact that humans are selfish and that we can't get a perfect system (a system that doesn't get abused). Just work with ways to reduce loopholes. For instance, UK is stricter in terms of immigration enforcement; they send the border patrol to train stations, bus stops, apartments, to check on the status of people. I don't see it happening in the states that much. (d) STEM is abused now with silly universities in America, minting 1000's of MS degrees in STEM.