>They count some of the University benefits as contributing to the salary
This is not true and simply can't happen. Every single H1B filing data is online and public so if you want to refute me you are free to post the exact filing.
>make the job requirements list items impossible to fulfill unless you've already done work with whichever researcher is hiring by making "experience" with their one off research projects or very narrow (but not hard to understand) areas of expertise a requirement.
Also not true since there is no job posting requirement for H1Bs. Only for EB2/3 green cards. Universities generally don't sponsor green cards unless it's EB1B so this can't happen either.
Advertising the position for certain time periods is typically a requirement related to using federal funding obtained through grants for paying personnel from certain agencies or a general university policy.
The process OP described is extremely common when groups already decided who they want to hire, but have to appear above board. Your resume essentially becomes the job posting making it nearly impossible for someone to compete (assuming you have niche skills/experience which is likely).
I worked in academic research for over a decade and have received a raise using the exact process OP described (I was/always have been a full citizen). I've also seen it used by other collaborating groups.
Another poster has a picture of a posting for an H1 job that pays $13/hr for someone with a doctorate in a category for which a) the wage is a joke (even a few years ago postdoc average would be $35k+, I think, currently I think it's low 40s), and b) there's no shortage of Americans (well known glut of available postdocs).
To be fair I legit don't know the details of the fine print. I just know that I see things that don't really make sense to me and seem abusive of the system.
This is not true and simply can't happen. Every single H1B filing data is online and public so if you want to refute me you are free to post the exact filing.
>make the job requirements list items impossible to fulfill unless you've already done work with whichever researcher is hiring by making "experience" with their one off research projects or very narrow (but not hard to understand) areas of expertise a requirement.
Also not true since there is no job posting requirement for H1Bs. Only for EB2/3 green cards. Universities generally don't sponsor green cards unless it's EB1B so this can't happen either.
I agree with your last suggestion though.