I am an Indian. I'll let you in on a (open?) secret because I have nothing to lose and I am no part of it. All the stuff I am going to tell you is from my perso

I am an Indian. I'll let you in on a (open?) secret because I have nothing to lose and I am no part of it. All the stuff I am going to tell you is from my personal experience with my friends, and their stories. Here's how these body shops work: 1. Find a guy/gal who is a reasonable match for the job and place him/her in it. No problem with that. 2. The employee may not have prior experience in the field he claims he has in his resume. The body shops know this. They sometimes fix your resume for you. 3. If the body shops are not confident in you, they might arrange for a proxy to interview in your place for a "charge". Most of the times in consulting, a phone interview usually suffices. 4. Some (good)body shops split the wage 80(for the employee)/20(for the employer). In case they did proxy someone in for you, they might divide it more evenly in their favor. 5. The body shops may have someone in the said company where he is placing their candidate and they may receive kickbacks(few dollars/head/hour). 6. Usually the body shops are scum of the earth; if you think car dealers are the worst, think again. They will lie,beg,steal to make more money off of you in anyways they can. 7. And finally to come to your point, why H-1s are underpaid; In my experience they are not underpaid at all. They usually make twice of what I make(and I am a programmer in SV). It is just that they lie that it seems low. Many a time the body shop pays the employee about 50% in income as per-diem. All in all, it is not uncommon that they make 200k a year. However, remember that body shops are the worst of the worst people and they may steal your money and not pay for months on end sometimes. Depends on how desperate you are.