Employers have to show they can’t hire enough locals. If there is a surplus of “software developers” locally, it might be tricky to get H1B folks.

So they simply say, “We are not hiring for software developers, we are hiring for DBAs … totally different thing ;).”

Shady. The worst ive seen is forcing your American staff to hire a massive overseas team at approx $10k per employee per year, having them set up a local company in their country with the understanding that it's just a front and you are their only client, force them to work during American hours and forcing all of your American employees to remote train them for two years and then firing your American staff. Had this happen to me once.

How did it work out for the company?