That's how it is marketed to the masses. From what I hear from many US citizens it actually looks quite different in reality.

The reality is US is a tech powerhouse, many successful companies have been started by former h1b holders and US tech workers are highest paid in the world (even PPP adjusted). What you're hearing is not the reality - it's just vibes.

For the “highly skilled” there’s the O-1 visa.

Not really, O-1 is essentially a visa to bring a specific person to the US. While H1B is a wide net (yes, visa given to a specific person, not what I'm saying).

o-1 is to bring Albert Einstein and h1b is to bring some physicist that matches criteria.

As in, O-1 is person-focused, while H1B is role-focused.

>h1b is to bring some physicist that matches criteria.

those are exceptional cases. The majority of the 65K year h1b visas granted every year are for filling IT related positions. Mostly dev related positions.

I only used physicist because I couldn't come up with a name for O-1 recipient that isn't already a US citizen from top of my head.

If it's about urgently needed skills, then anybody who has a H-1B visa is of course the highest paid worker in his or her company. Right?