The above commenter has nailed it: "If you pay well enough, finding good developers isn't that hard." The incentives here are incredibly obvious to spot. Faceb

The above commenter has nailed it: "If you pay well enough, finding good developers isn't that hard." The incentives here are incredibly obvious to spot. Facebook/Google can either pay a star developer 600k/yr for the duration of his stay, or bring a foreign indentured developer and train him for 60k/yr. The choice here may not be obvious, but the reality is that both of these strategies are employed. Most top tech companies have executives which are paid 10 to 100x the base developer salary, because they manage a hive of indentured foreign workers who can do the menial dev work. These executives essentially become "Architects". This is the best case scenario, in the worst case, the architects are also trained or outsourced. The economics of this situation are very simple to understand, and explain why most companies employ the dual strategy to significantly reduce their costs. Green card holders have the option of negotiating for more compensation as they gain experience, but foreign workers without status do not have this option. As such, they are a far better bargain over the long run, assuming both are of equal ability as fresh new grads.