Explained: Debate on skilled immigration, green cards & H-1B visas in US

What is the latest controversy all about?

Krishnan in November had posted on X about the need to remove country caps for green cards to “unlock skilled immigration” in the US. He wrote: “simple logic — we need the best, regardless of where they happen to be born (another bizarre quirk — the country cap is where you were born, not even citizenship)”.

While Krishnan’s argument has many takers — including Elon Musk, who in recent times has emerged as among Trump’s closest aides — it also has a fair share of critics in the anti-immigration American right, a prime constituency for the soon-to-be US president. And this is not the only such statement made by him.

Earlier this year, in his podcast Aarthi and Sriram (co-hosted by Aarthi Ramamurthy), Krishnan had said that skilled Indian immigrants to the US should marry Americans to get green cards. “There is a rom-com to be made here somewhere… [The Indian] wants to get citizenship… [The American] has not found love… they come together,” he said, clearly in jest.

Green Cards, or Permanent Residency Cards, allow holders to live and work in the US.

Why are these statements controversial?

Immigration is one of the most polarising political issues in the US. According to a YouGov poll in October, 14.6% registered voters felt it was the most important issue facing the United States — a number that has steadily grown over the past decade from only 2.1% in 2012.

Much of the election-time anti-immigration rhetoric focuses on what economists term low-skilled labour migration. The economic logic behind such rhetoric is the belief such immigration takes away jobs that would have otherwise gone to the American working class, as well as depress wages in the US. (Of course, such rhetoric is almost always laced with racist undertones or overtones which cannot be ignored).

The American working class has long been ailed by high unemployment, low wages, inflation, a housing crisis, and numerous other economic problems. This is, in part, behind the rise of populists such as Donald Trump, who promise to make conditions better for Americans by curbing immigration. Consider Trump’s standard “Mexicans are stealing American jobs” argumentation.

The latest controversy also carries forward many of the same themes, but this time in the context of immigration of skilled personnel for higher paying jobs.

As one Josiah Lippincott, a prominent right-wing commentator notorious for his overtly racist rants, wrote on X following Musk expressing support for Krishnan’s position, “The flood of Indian H-1B visas that Silicon Valley will import over the next five years will do to the White middle class what Mexican migration and outsourcing did to White working class Americans.”

What is the H-1B visa? Why do some in the US criticise the programme?

The H-1B visa programme allows US employers to hire immigrant workers in specialty occupations that require “a high level of skill” and “at least a bachelor’s degree”, according to the US Department of Labour. The H-1B visa can be issued for a maximum of six years at a stretch.

“The intent of the H-1B provisions is to help 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,” the department’s website says.

The H-1B visa is a hit especially among Indians. Data from the US government shows that Indians make up a significant majority of H-1B visa-holders — in the fiscal year 2023, Indians accounted for 72.3% (2.79 lakh of a total of 3.86 lakh) H-1B visa holders, according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Chinese immigrants came a distant second, holding 11.7% of the total H-1B visas H-1B visas.

The sheer dominance of Indian H-1B visa holders, a majority of whom work in computer-related occupations, has invited criticism from anti-immigration voices such as Lippincot — they see Indians in the context of well-paying software engineering jobs in the same light as they see Mexicans when it comes to poorly paid manual labour.

Moreover, critics say that although the intention of the H-1B programme was to bring in the best minds from around the world to the US, in reality, it is used by tech corporations for staffing its low-to-mid level workforce for much lesser pay than what it would cost to hire Americans.

Why has this issue divided the pro-Trump American right wing?

Notably there is no consensus on the matter even among pro-Trump otherwise anti-immigration right-wingers. Take for instance the positions of Krishnan, himself a Trump appointee, and Elon Musk on the matter.

From the perspective of people running tech companies in Silicon Valley, the currently existing country cap on skilled immigration — 65,000 H-1B visas per year, and the 7% per country cap on green cards issued — limits growth.

As Musk posted on X: “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent. It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Loosening of restrictions on skilled immigration would act as a major economic stimulus, and help attract top talent from world over.

Those against this loosening, however, argue that the “top talent” does exist stateside, but tech companies see them as “too expensive” to hire, and thus prefer relatively more inexpensive skilled workers from countries like India.

With Trump taking over in January, it will be interesting to see where his administration heads on this issue — whether it listens to those who have led and bankrolled his return to power, or whether the angst of his White base would push him in the opposite direction.

In his previous term, Trump did impose certain limits on the issuance of H-1B visas but this was largely due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.