The bust is definitely pushing wages down, but a lot of tech companies have been able to decouple work from location.

Amazon doesn’t have to pay a wage competitive in Seattle any more for new talent. In the process of searching for the second HQ, Amazon got a lot of information from various cities on what they could offer Amazon, which let Amazon build out new offices where the cost of living is lower. If the job is full remote, you’re competing against applicants from around the world, not just the city you’re living in.

So you don’t need to go the path of visas, but it doesn’t mean the only alternative is well paying jobs in high cost of living cities.