H-1B abuse pays off

American IT professionals often complain that they are being undercut by the H1-B Visa system when companies hire foreign workers at lower salaries even when qualified, tech-savvy U.S. citizens are available. If you need evidence that this practice is taking place, you need look no further than the Justice Department's settlement with iGate Mastech. The government charged the Pittsburgh-based computer consulting company with placing 30 job announcements between May and June of 2006 for computer programmers that expressly favored H-1B visa holders while excluding U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and other legal U.S. workers. It appears that gaming the system may have been worth it to the company, which paid only $45,000 in civil penalties to settle allegations that it discriminated against U.S. citizens.

To read more about abuse of the system:
- See this ComputerWorld article