The H1B doesn't directly allow worker exploitation. There are two classes of H1 workers: the vast majority who work for consulting firms/body shops and the bett

The H1B doesn't directly allow worker exploitation. There are two classes of H1 workers: the vast majority who work for consulting firms/body shops and the better skilled minority that works for "product" companies in the Bay Area, New York, Seattle and other tech hubs. The second type of worker typically has employer sponsorship for green cards and skills that allow them to find new jobs. Green cards are given out on a per-country-cap basis. Because India and China have large populations, H1 workers from those countries have to wait a long time to get their green cards. Whereas people from almost any other country can have an employer sponsored green card in a matter of 2-4 years. Fix the green card system and you'll mostly not have many H1 workers in SV software companies (only those waiting for their green cards to be filed). It's hard to make the argument that tech workers making $200k/year are indentured servants or exploited in some way or a "cheaper" alternative to domestic talent. That then just leaves workers from the first category, body shops, which draws most of the H1 ire for being cheap and low-skilled . I don't have a good solution for fixing it and agree that the numbers there probably need to be reduced. If no employer thinks you're worth the cost of sponsoring a GC then your skills probably aren't that great and it's a more fair system.