The median salary for a registered nurse in San Francisco is $133,650 a year. How easy would it be for a software engineer on an H1B to become a registered nur

The median salary for a registered nurse in San Francisco is $133,650 a year. How easy would it be for a software engineer on an H1B to become a registered nurse instead? As a citizen, I could do this, in response to my interests and market signals. Or I could install drywall, open a sandwich shop, sell real estate, or try to make a go of life as a writer or artists. Freedom. Nobody owes me success, but I am free to pursue happiness as I define it. Most immigrants, well over a million a year, who come to the US actually have similar freedom. Interestingly, Facebook, a multi multi billion dollar corporation, can't find enough workers who are free to choose their path in life, not from the 300+ million existing US citizens, not from the million+ who come here every year. It needs help from the government, to create a special program that allows Facebook's HR department to decide who is and isn't allowed to come here, in response to Facebook's hiring needs. Remarkable. Yes, I agree, people do overstate the case and often claim that H1Bs can't change employers, and yes, I agree, this is false. There are some very limited options for mobility. Provided you handle the paperwork correctly and limit yourself to sponsoring corporations, you can be a developer at this big corp, that big corp, or maybe even that other smaller corp that sponsored a visa. So here's my point - claiming that H1B holders can change jobs, without that context, is almost as inaccurate as claiming they can't. H1B holders absolutely are not free and full participants in our labor market, and there's no question that this is why some employers like this program so much, and prefer to use it over hiring those who are free (to negotiate and leave).