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Five Questions Explain Why the H1-B Visa Needs Reformed
Five questions to explain why the H1-B visa needs to be reformed.
1) What is an H1-B visa?
Visas for foreigners to travel temporarily to the U.S. are designated by letters and numbers. B-1 is a business visa, B-2 is for tourists. H1-A allows foreign nurses to work in the U.S. while H1-B is for highly skilled workers — think AI scientists, programmers, and engineers — to work in the U.S. Unlike most nonimmigrant visas, H1-B is considered a visa with duel intent, meaning it is understood most holders will go on to apply for green cards, permanent residence in the U.S., and never return home to their foreign residence.
Created in 1990, the H-1B is an employer-sponsored visa that authorizes foreigners to work in the U.S. for up to six years. Tech companies and IT consultancies are the top recipients. Every year, a government lottery awards 65,000 slots to applicants with an undergraduate degree and another 20,000 to those with advanced degrees (universities and nonprofits are exempt from these caps.) The private-sector allocation is typically filled within days, hence a lottery to chose finalists for the visa. More on this in a moment.
2) Who are the H1-Bs in the U.S.?
The majority of H1-Bs work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, with computer-related occupations accounting for 65 percent. This was followed by about 10 percent distributed among architecture, engineering, and surveying. Amazon was the top employer of H-1Bs in 2024, hiring more than 13,000. Other top employers were Google (4th), Meta (6th), Microsoft (7th), Apple (8th), and IBM (10th.) Tesla ranked 22nd. The rest of the top employers are Indian staffing companies (see below.) All successful H1-Bs came through the lottery system.
3) Does the Lottery Assure the U.S. of Getting the Best and Brightest from Abroad?
Since 2004, the number of new H-1B visas issued has been capped at 85,000 per year, 20,000 of which are reserved for foreign students with master’s degrees or higher from American universities (the cap does not apply to universities, think tanks, and other non-profit groups, so more are issued.) These limited slots are chased by some 386,000 approved H-1B applications in fiscal year 2023, all thrown into that lottery.
So that winnows out the best candidates? Nope, sometimes just the opposite. Or maybe better to say any of the best and brightest are chosen by dumb luck and have just as much chance as the dull and dim. Because so many more people want an H1-B visa than there are visas available, a lottery is held. The lottery does not look at the quality or credentials of the applicant; he’s just thrown into the hopper to try his luck. All that is needed is the minimum qualification to enter, so many excellent candidates to fill jobs badly needed in the U.S. are never even considered.
Worse yet, the lottery is dominated by IT staffing firms which routinely flood it with entries, often for more visas than they need, crowding out companies that play by the rules and submit for specific, individual workers. Many of the world’s smartest engineers are shut out from the most lucrative, in-demand jobs, and shortages at the top end persist. It works like this: American Company A needs a programmer. Rather than try to recruit abroad and then navigate the cumbersome U.S. immigration system alone, they contract with an IT staffing firm, usually located in India (there are more than a million Indians in the U.S. on H-1 B visas, 72 percent of the whole; five of the top ten H1-B firms are Indian), for such a person, any person who fits the general bill. The IT staffing firm then recruits say 100 such programmers and dumps them all in the lottery hoping one will win. That’s your man!
The paperwork is sometimes tidied up to change the employer from the staffing firm to American Company A. In some cases even the lottery winner can be substituted for a preferred candidate. It makes it near-impossible for a specific individual to make it through the process. The lottery — by design — doesn’t reward top talent. It rewards luck and gaming the system. So it is not surprising 85 percent of H-1B petitions are awarded to employers paying well below the median wage, as determined by occupation and location. The floor for the H-1B visa salary is only $60,000, a number that has not be raised since, well, since when 60k was a decent salary in the IT industry. Even the the median compensation was only $118,000 fiscal year 2023.
4) Do H1-B Workers Compete with Americans for Jobs?
The law says H1-B workers are supposed to be paid the prevailing wage for their job, based on the Department of Labor statistics. In reality, the Economic Policy Institute found that 60 percent of H-1B positions were assigned wage levels well below the local median wage for the occupation. A Government Accounting Office report found that between June 1, 2009, and July 30, 2010, 83 percent of H-1B jobs were certified at Level 1 (Entry-level.) This does not mean the workers themselves were entry-level, only that to save money some highly-skilled workers were down-labeled to make them cheaper to hire. Companies get low-cost employees, and the worker himself considers the eventual Green Card enough a part of his compensation that he tolerates the lower wage. The H1-B workers can’t complain too much; their visa is for a specific company and they are like indentured servants, unable to freely change jobs and thus made to take what they are given. Too bad about the displaced American workers priced out of the market.
5) What Can Be Done to Fix This?
Elon Musk and other tech barons argue the H-1B visa program is critical to ensuring American companies can find highly skilled labor that may not be easily available in the U.S. labor force. Trump himself has spoken highly of the program, ensuring its continued viability.
“Ultimately, if you’re going to have a skilled worker program for ‘skilled’ workers, you don’t award these visas via a lottery,” said Eric Ruark, the director of research at NumbersUSA, an organization that advocates for tighter immigration controls. “Obviously, that’s not how you find the best and the brightest.” To make the program better, dump the H1-B visa lottery in favor of a merit-based program for skilled workers that assigns points for various criteria, including education and work experience, similar to how Canada and other Western nations allocate their “Green Cards.” Another possible approach, considered during Trump 1.0, would be to prioritize allocation of visas by wages. One way or another replace luck with skill to the benefit of the United States.
It is also time to raise the salary floor for H1-B workers to make Americans more competitive for their jobs. The Department of Labor needs to update salary schedules more frequently, with an eye toward what real wages in the IT world are. And enforcement of H1-B regulations must eliminate more highly-skilled workers being used to fill entry-level jobs to get around wage caps. There should be no competition between American workers and H1-Bs.
Raise the overall number of H1-B visas available. Exempt “critical” industries such as defense oriented companies from the numerical cap. To get more of the world’s best, the U.S. needs to open more doors to them.
Continue to streamline the H1-B application process. The January 17 H-1B visa reforms are a good start but still not enough.
What should not be done is to eliminate the H1-B visa. The program as it stands today is necessary but not sufficient, and ripe for overhaul as part of the greater scrutiny Trump seeks to apply to all immigration to the United States.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
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Rich Bauer said...
1To . H1-b or not to be
“Elon Musk and other tech barons argue the H-1B visa program is critical to ensuring American companies can find highly skilled labor that may not be easily available in the U.S. labor force. Trump himself has spoken highly of the program, ensuring its continued viability.”
Of course Donnie D didnt speak highly about foreigners taking American jobs before Elon bribed him.
As for Elon, he made need foreign employment soon.
Tesla slide is projected to accelerate, with JPMorgan predicting a late December share price of just $120. Investors have been bearish on the electric vehicle company after Tesla sales flatlined in Europe following Musk’s endorsement of a far-right German political party. The Tesla CEO has also had to contend with a wave of Tesla Takedown protests at dealerships across the country as Americans outraged over his mass firings of federal workers take to the streets.
03/18/25 9:50 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
2What system does India have to ensure only the brightest American minds can enter their country for work? A lottery?
03/19/25 9:56 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
3The Perfect Guy to Dismantle the Federal Government
A shitty electric car company owned by nerdy Nazi Elon Musk is recalling most of its Cybertrucks due to an exterior panel that can dismantle while driving ― posing a serious setback for a company whose shares already have been taking a nosedive.
Tesla announced the recall of more than 46,000 Cybertrucks in a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall applies to all vehicles built from November 2023 through Feb. 27 of this year ― accounting for nearly every Cybertruck in existence. In its filing, Tesla says a stainless-steel exterior trim panel can detach from the vehicle.
And this is the guy Donnie D put in charge of dismantling the government?
03/20/25 3:02 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
4Why is anyone surprised Donnie Dementia would allow Moscow Musk to see the TipTop Secret War Plans of the Pentagone? The MAGA MORON stole thousands of TipTop Secret Documents and hid them in his shitty Florida slum.
03/21/25 10:13 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
5The SS Nazi Runs For Cover. Will the SS Nazis need visas for Argentina when the poor people invade their offices?
The acting SS Nazi commissioner of the Social Security Administration now says he is “not shutting down the agency” after earlier suggesting he might do so in the wake of a judge’s ruling limiting the Department of Government of Efficiency’s access to sensitive agency data.
Leland Himmler Dudek, the acting SS head of the agency, said in a statement Friday he received “clarifying guidance” about the judge’s temporary restraining order related to DOGE activities.
“Therefore, I am not shutting down the agency,” he said in the statement. ” Social Security offices will remain open and get the right check to the right person at the right time. SSA employees and their work will continue under the [temporary restraining order].”
Typical. SS Nazis always get hung by their own words.
03/22/25 9:06 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
6Someone Leaked Secret War Plan Meeting that Didnt Happen
Donnie Dementia either did or did not give the OK for Prezidunce Moscow Musk, a close friend of Commie China and Russia, to get the TipTop Secret War Plans at the Pentagone. Donnie now swears there was no such plan to let Prezidunce Musk in on it. So…..
The Department of Defense is investigating “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information” and plans to use polygraphs as part of the probe, according to a memo published to the department’s website Friday.
“The use of polygraphs in the execution of this investigation will be in accordance with applicable law and policy,” DOD Chief of Staff Joe Kasper wrote in the memo. “This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense.”
Kasper wrote that “information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure” would be referred for criminal prosecution.
So there was no plan to give unauthorized disclosure of war plans to Benedict Elon. But someone disclosed it…which is a crime.
03/22/25 7:42 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
7Count the Votes, Donnie
If anything restrains Demented Donnie and Prezidunce Musk, it is enraging the 73 million people who receive Social Security checks.
According to summaries of polls by Blueprint, Demented’s net job approval rating is -6; Musk’s is -16, with a favorability score that has steadily declined since the election. And in a new poll by the Working Families Party, Trump scores -9 with working-class families. Most politicians, parties, and public figures have negative approval. The highest approval is for federal government workers (+30), the Working Families Party (+15), and Bernie Sanders (+10).
The pattern of Demented and his idiots is to make boldfaced lies, like the Social Security System is a Ponzi scheme, and then pull back or adjust when they encounter serious resistance. My guess is that by next week, the order that retirees must use Social Security offices rather than the phone will be gone.
The pattern of dumbass voters is to believe lies until those lies hurt them. Then they vote their pocketbooks.
03/22/25 8:33 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
8MAGA MORONS MAKING MORE TipTop MILITARY MISTAKES
While Peter panders to AmCon MAGGOTS about visa issues nobody at even AmCon gives a rat’s ars, here is something for him to write about : national security violations. FYI: Peter is an expert on national security violations because he apparently was fired because some Clinton era NAzis at Diplomatic Security haha said he was a national security risk for linking his blog to Wikileaks.
“The Atlantic just reported on ANOTHER colossal screw-up of the dumbest Administration Accidentally Texted Its War Plans:
According to Jeffrey Goldberg, journalist and editor in chief of The Atlantic:
On Tuesday, March 11, I received a connection request on Signal from a user identified as Michael Waltz. Signal is an open-source encrypted messaging service popular with journalists and others who seek more privacy than other text-messaging services are capable of delivering. I assumed that the Michael Waltz in question was President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. I did not assume, however, that the request was from the actual Michael Waltz. I have met him in the past, and though I didn’t find it particularly strange that he might be reaching out to me, I did think it somewhat unusual, given the Trump administration’s contentious relationship with journalists—and Trump’s periodic fixation on me specifically. It immediately crossed my mind that someone could be masquerading as Waltz in order to somehow entrap me.
The group apparently included Michael Waltz, Marco Rubio, JD Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, Scott Bessent, Pete Hegseth, Brian McCormack, Steve Witkoff, Susie Wiles, Stephen Miller, and/or their representatives, as well as a CIA guy that Goldberg decided not to name because he’s still an active officer. All are now in charge of US national security, have close ties to $Resident $Rump, or both.
The group went on to discuss their plans for attacking Houthis in Yemen and revealed some very callous political calculations concerning these people’s LIVES. And some peripheral concerns such as their “loathing” for Europe. At one point “Hegseth” says “I will do all we can to enforce 100% OPSEC [operations security]” and later “We are currently clean on OPSEC”.
U.S. official should not establish a Signal thread in the first place…. The Signal app is not approved by the government for sharing classified information. The government has its own systems for that purpose. If officials want to discuss military activity, they should go into a specially designed space known as a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF… or communicate only on approved government equipment…. as these officials were sharing information about an active military operation, they could have been moving around in public. Had they lost their phones, or had they been stolen, the potential risk to national security would have been severe.
Peter wont write about this because he knows what happens to people who threaten MAGA MORONS.
03/24/25 4:06 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
9It’s Not April Fools but…
Dumbdumb Donald Trump argued that Hillary Clinton’s email use and her handling of classified information is “disqualifying” as he sharpened his attacks on the Democratic nominee.
Drawing on notes the FBI released four days earlier from its interview with Clinton, Trump blasted Clinton for telling the FBI at least 39 times that she could not remember details of classified information procedures and instructions. He attempted to make the case that Clinton and her aides “knowingly destroyed evidence and covered up their actions” after they used hammers to destroy at least two of Clinton’s used cell phones.
“People who have nothing to hide don’t smash phones with hammers. People who have nothing to hide don’t bleach – nobody’s even ever heard of it – their emails, or destroy evidence to keep it from being publicly archived as required under federal law,” Trump said, pointing to Clinton aides’ use of a software named BleachBit to expunge traces of deleted emails.
“Can you imagine if I, or somebody else, did that?” Trump asked.
Er, yeah….you dumb shit.
03/24/25 7:16 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
10Donnie Dementia on Monday afternoon told reporters he had not heard about the Atlantic report. “I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of the Atlantic, to me it’s a magazine that’s going out of business,” Trump said. “You’re telling me about it for the first time.”
Donnie Dementia’s memory loss indicates advanced Dementia.
03/24/25 9:27 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
11The Chickenshits Are Coming Home To the White House to roost
18 USC 793(f) makes it a crime to so negligently mishandle National Defense Information that someone not authorized to receive it does receive it.
(f) Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the same has been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
03/25/25 9:46 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
12Demenia Admin Idiots think leaking Military Ops is NOT as dangerous as Deportation Manifests
Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed that disclosing the deportation information sought by Boasberg would harm US national security or foreign relations.
“It is critical to bear in mind that removal operations can be (as they are here) counterterrorism operations. If foreign partners believed that any relevant details could be revealed to third parties, those foreign partners would be less likely to work with the United States in the future,” Rubio said in his declaration. “That impairs the foreign relations and diplomatic capabilities of the United States and threatens significant harm to the national security of the United States.”
This country is so screwed.
03/25/25 9:59 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
13New addition to the Wikipedia: the Peter Hegseth Principle
The Peter principle is a concept which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to “a level of respective incompetence”: employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs. Recent events have created a new term: the Peter Hegseth principle: Incompetent employees are promoted to an even higher level of incompetence. See Tulsi Gabbard, John Ratcliffe, Kash Patel, Mike Walz.
Donnie Dementia is in a category of his own.
03/26/25 3:41 PM | Comment Link