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Amid US H-1B rhetoric, Govt officials say visa helped US companies

People born in India are the largest beneficiaries of the H-1B program. Data from the US government show that Indians account for more than 70% of all H-1B petitions approved each year since 2015.

US H-1B rhetoric, US H-1B visa, H-1B visa, IT sector, US companies, United States, Indian express business, business news, current affairs

People born in China come a distant second, hovering at the 12-13% mark since 2018.

The rising criticism in the United States of the H-1B visa – of which Indians are the prime beneficiary – could impact India’s IT sector and its workers, resulting in fewer US-based contracts from them, a senior government official said. However, the government believes that the H-1B visa has inevitably helped American companies the most, and it could be difficult for them to find equally skilled American people.

“It could certainly limit access for Indian workers in the US, leading to fewer IT companies here getting US based contracts which could contract their revenue. But the visa has immensely helped American companies in finding the right workers across the world, and whether they can substitute that with American people is not clear. Certainly it’s not an easy change and despite all the political signalling, the reality is that the visa helps American companies the most,” a senior government official told The Indian Express.

On Tuesday, United States Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the popular H-1B visa program a “scam that lets foreign workers fill American job opportunities,” adding that hiring American workers should be the priority of all US businesses. The US administration has signalled significant overhaul of the visa program, which involves a lottery-based allocation. Immigration is one of the most polarising subjects in the US currently, with the discourse now shifting from illegal immigration to programmes like the H1-B system.

Also Read | H-1B visa changes: Why Trump aides want to change H-1B visa program

People born in India are the largest beneficiaries of the H-1B program. Data from the US government show that Indians account for more than 70% of all H-1B petitions approved each year since 2015. People born in China come a distant second, hovering at the 12-13% mark since 2018.

Between October 2022 to September 2023, 72 per cent of the nearly 4 lakh visas issued under the H-1B program went to Indian nationals. During the same period, top four Indian IT majors with a presence in the US–namely Infosys, TCS, HCL, and Wipro–got approval for around 20,000 employees to work on the H-1B visa, as per latest US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data.

One of the key concerns in the US administration on the H-1B visa is that it is used by American corporations to hire talent from overseas at a cheaper cost than what it would take them to hire a native born US citizen.

Also Read | Best of both sides: The H-1B visa system is designed to exploit foreign talent

While there is some truth in that, data collected by the non-profit American Immigration Council (AIC) showed that H-1B workers do not earn low wages or drag down other workers’ wages. In 2021, the median wage of an H-1B worker was $108,000, compared to $45,760 for US workers in general. Moreover, between 2003 and 2021, the median wage of H-1B workers grew by 52 percent. During the same period, the median wage of all US workers increased by 39 percent.

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Supporting the argument that the visa has immensely helped American companies, AIC said that between FY 2010 and FY 2019, eight US companies that would later participate in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine—Gilead Sciences, Moderna Therapeutics, GlaxoSmithKline, Inovio, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, Regeneron, Vir Therapeutics, and Sanofi—received approvals for 3,310 biochemists, biophysicists, chemists, and other scientists through the H-1B program.

Also Read | Explained: India-US ties and the illegal immigration issue

US President’s former aide and tech mogul Elon Musk has also come in support of the H-1B programme.

The H-1B programme was started in 1990, with the intention of helping “employers who cannot otherwise obtain needed business skills and abilities from the US workforce by authorising the temporary employment of qualified individuals who are not otherwise authorised to work in the United States”.

Soumyarendra Barik

Soumyarendra Barik is Special Correspondent with The Indian Express and reports on the intersection of technology, policy and society. With over five years of newsroom experience, he has reported on issues of gig workers’ rights, privacy, India’s prevalent digital divide and a range of other policy interventions that impact big tech companies. He once also tailed a food delivery worker for over 12 hours to quantify the amount of money they make, and the pain they go through while doing so. In his free time, he likes to nerd about watches, Formula 1 and football. ... Read More

Aggam Walia

Aggam Walia is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, reporting on power, renewables, and mining. His work unpacks intricate ties between corporations, government, and policy, often relying on documents sourced via the RTI Act. Off the beat, he enjoys running through Delhi's parks and forests, walking to places, and cooking pasta. ... Read More