The thing with H-1B visas is they tie the immigrant employee to a specific employer, thus giving the employees little ability to negotiate for raises. It also r

The thing with H-1B visas is they tie the immigrant employee to a specific employer, thus giving the employees little ability to negotiate for raises. It also results in H-1B visa holding immigrants being paid significantly less for their contributions. In contrast, adrr's suggestion above to "stack rank h1b applicants by salary instead of using a lottery system" would result in a system where H-1B holding immigrants are well-paid and "shortages" result in rising wages over time. Re: sudden shocks, I agree with you. Market pricing will tend to fix imbalances over time (barring extreme regulation or other distortions), but it does take time. In a truly extraordinary situation such as you suggest where huge swaths of the population are suddenly dead or incapacitated, you'd have a reasonable argument against market pricing. I don't believe the H-1B was ever intended for such catastrophic scenarios, though.