Do LinkedIn recommendations mean anything to recruiters and employers?

You can view my take on references in the group discussion on "reference checking" http://www.focus.com/groups/human-resources/topics/view/reference-checking/
I would focus on something else you wrote "The possible problem is my country of residence" I would say this is not a possible but a strong definite. Correct me if I'm wrong but you would need a company to sponsor your H1B Visa. This is almost always a last resort considering the work and expense involved. Due to the dot.com bust and the poor economy there is a dearth of local (or at least U.S. citizens) available for work. It's simply not worth the time or effort to consider candidates that need "special attention" when there are plenty available that do not.

As a manager who has recently hired someone, I will tell you that, yes, I looked at the candidates' LinkedIn pages and their recommendations. As Susie Batchelor stated above, it is easy to tell when someone is padding their recommendations, but generally, I like to see that someone is well networked, as networking is a skill that will serve them in our company. So for me, as a hiring manager, yes LinkedIn references are important.

It’s transparent when you see people beefing up their LinkendIn account with recommendations from friends. It becomes a numbers games vs. quality and in dept referrals. People give recommendation on LinkendIn, and expect recommendations back. It's the I scratch your back and you scratch mine rule, and we will both have recommendations on our accounts. It becomes meaningless.

Actually, I think LinkedIn reccomendations are OK, first you can check the links of those recommending an individual - it will become pretty clear, pretty quickly if they are genuine or not - just search their networks.

I also think mutual references are fine, no-one ever picks someone to give them a bad reference.

I would of course check up further than the linkedin data, but see nothing wrong with using it as an indicator in the first instance.

Definitely I'd say that a LinkedIn recommendation is a boon and invaluable tool for HR dept., Recruiters and Employers alike, as recommendations are posted from different communities of the work place: viz., Peer groups, Immediate Supervisors, Contractors and Vendors , Subordinates, CEO, MD, Exec. Dir., Consultants, Business Partners, Cross Country references, etc.. etc., so you can get an overall picture of the candidate, when you analyze all the recommendations put forth.
And these collective recommendations posted over a span of time in different companies , definitely MEAN and MATTER A LOT.

Its a cake walk to cross check the links of the persons and know who they are and how good their standing is , to determine the genuineness of the recommendation. So LinkedIn recommendations definitely mean a lot more than erstwhile days when we procured a resume from the manpower agency knowing little or nothing about the candidate or depending on just a MD's referral that may or need not be biased. Even leading manpower agencies nowadays seek /prefer LinkedIn resumes, which speaks volumes for itself.

I personally, believe that LinkedIn recommendations don't mean anything. I feel that your previous work experience and profile summary are the things recruiters look at, but even that is going a little too far in my opinion. I've heard stories of individuals creating fake accounts to write themselves recommendations and I've heard stories of people beefing up/faking their profile on LinkedIn to give the impression that they're something they're not. I stick to personal recommendations and resumes. It's the most trustworthy.

What about written recommendation from superior officer or department manager?

So here's another potential curve ball. Many potential employers and recruiters now use automated tools to scan and triage resumes, which means that written letters of recommendation only matter to candidates who've gotten past this first hurdle. In an age of increasing automation of the candidate screening process, do recommendations on sites such as LinkedIn become more or less valuable, to recruiters or to candidates?

I think a lot of employers are beginning to use LinkedIn as a source of valuable recruiting data in it's own right. You can avoid a lot of the usual nonsense of scanning CVs from jobsites, and ensure relevance and referencing in the first stage.

Headhunters clearly use LinkedIn as they contact me fairly regularly from my LinkedIn page, and I suspect that the use will get broader for this not narrower.

it depends who is recommending to whom. If your company MD is recommending you then it would be treated like a true recommendation and recruiters will consider it.

I would say that the Linked In recommendations are definitly a start, but I wouldn't use them as the sole reason to hire or not hire someone. As Tony Lloyd stated above, I like to see that people are networking, selling themselves and their experiences on a more professional platform than Face Book or My Space. The recomendations are also an indicator of what relationships the individual had or has with employers- if the recommendations are from executives or high level associates (most of which would NOT put their name on something that is not genuine), those go much further than the recommendations from friends or peers...

Linked-in comments are referral points to recruiters or employers, provide opinion about the person. This is an additional valuable source of information for the recruiters, provided the updated information very genuine.

I find Linked-in references useful. By looking at the profile of the reference you start to get an idea of the associations and credibility of the candidate. They can be totally overdone and that paints a picture as well.

I don't think it's an absolute necessity, but I think recruiters and employers should seriously take recommendations into consideration. I look at recommendations when sourcing potential experts and speakers. It means that they have surpassed an individuals expectations. People don't hand out recommendations on a regular basis.

However, I would double check the relationship of the recommendation. If an individual has all colleagues as recommendations, I might be a little more skeptical than if they were from services providers and/or business partners.

I still don't buy recommendations from superior officers and department managers. If they have good things to say about the individual. Request a letter of recommendation and submit that with your resume. Physical letter's of recommendation go a lot further than any recommendation online.