It's common but sort of an indicator of a project that is going to suck. There are outsourcing firms in the USA who are staffed entirely by remote workers and pay $50-$65 an hour.
That might still be worth it for everyone involved. The process of vetting good engineers and designers from overseas is very difficult, and potentially very expensive
In my experience the middle man (recruiting company) rarely gives a crap about the quality of workers, as long as the client is paying for the ones they find.
