January 15, 2025
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Two simple reforms could make H-1B visas great again
While warring MAGA factions may seem locked in a dead-end foreign worker battle, two straightforward changes would provide global talent while minimizing domestic job losses.
Just in time for the holidays internal struggle He broke down about what “America First” means against the Trump administration. The dispute pitted requests for highly skilled foreign guest workers against others who said those workers were sent by Americans the back of the hiring line.
This latest incident was started over Christmas by billionaire Trump backer Elon Musk wrote: “The number of super talented engineers AND super motivated people in the US is very low,” on his X social network. He called for more H-1B workers to compensate for those less skilled Americans. Trump’s former opponent, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, responded: “We need to invest in Americans first before we look elsewhere.”
Fracas is new, but the plot is not. For decades, researchers have debated the implications an expandable and getting bigger H-1B visa program for guest tech workers. Tech executives like Musk say they need tens of thousands more workers. But others point it out hundreds of thousands of experienced US tech workers were laid off in the last two years—Some of the 15,000 Musk fired– and then represented by guest workers.
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But there is a way Top talent to work in the US without undermining wages and opportunities for local workers—if we tighten visa restrictions and end exploitation educational programs.
US Department of Homeland Security H-1B visa program each year, companies offer 65,000 work visas to non-immigrant guest workers with specialized skills, typically a well-defined bachelor’s degree related to the proposed field of employment. Another 20,000 go to those with a master’s degree or higher, and an unlimited number go to universities and nonprofits to hire foreign lab technicians, scientists, technology workers, professors and postdocs. In 2023, the agency issued a total of about 120,000 visas. Also, it’s even bigger STEM OPT (optional practical training) program offered by any foreign graduate student three-year work permit In a STEM field—it can be what a university defines as “STEM”. (for example New York University drama therapy or master’s degree study games). These two programs swim in an alphabet soup of visas given to US employers each year over 700,000 highly skilled guest workers.
It includes technological industries two-thirds of these visas, and have done so for decades; are based guest workers to fill the majority of new and young hiresperhaps 70 to 80 percent of the initial workforce. Unlike other visas, the H-1B visa is tied to the employer, so the employee is, as it is often described, “indentured servants”, with limited mobility. This reduces market power to negotiate wages, leave abusive working conditions or protest wage theft. There is no requirement that their employers demonstrate a labor shortage or primary search for US workers; in fact, it is completely legal for employers to consider citizens and permanent residents, the “green card”; US workers are not a protected class under anti-discrimination laws. It was this past year that one of the largest employers of IT guest workers, Cognizant, lost a novel. a lawsuit alleging discrimination in favor of one ethnic group, Indian workers, who were most often hired on H-1B visas.
When we look at the education and jobs that most guest workers have, it’s hard to call talent hard to find. Most of them work software outsourcing and consulting companiesdoing important but not innovative work. And most guest IT staff Graduates from top US universities come from low or non-degree programs with an enrollment of 80 to 100 percent foreign students. That is, universities have come into the game to benefit from guest workers through master’s programs that are low-cost to run but high-cost for students. These serve as gateways to the job market for foreign students, and high-margin profit centers for universities.
Two simple reforms would give the tech industry access to global talent while minimizing job losses for domestic workers. They would also encourage investment in American education and training.
First, guest worker visas, including H1-B, must be issued only to workers who are paid in the top 15 percent of wages in each industry and occupational group. Second, work visas should only go to the top 15 percent of each class for workers entering through OPT. Both policies are reasonable and relatively easy to implement and monitor. Employers and universities already report most of the required data to federal agencies. And they address the important concerns of our two rhetorical combatants.
They are definitely “super talented” and “super motivated” workers much lower fee than the top 15 percent of workers. This means that there will be these restrictions More than meeting Musk’s demands to fill positions in the development of innovative technologies.
Limiting guest worker permits and visas to foreign students who graduate in the top 15 percent of the class at a US university would address two concerns: First, it would rank students alongside their home peers by providing some measure of their academic ability. Second, universities would stop operating diploma mills target and exploit foreign students. For those students, there would be a risk of not getting a work permit by going to universities with more than 10 to 15 percent foreign student enrollment. This would encourage them to attend a wider range of universities, bringing higher-performing students to lower-ranked schools. To maintain this profitable population, universities will, in turn, have to recruit large numbers of domestic students and, above all, support them through graduation. Therefore, a high dropout rate will reduce the domestic pool and thus the share of foreign students who may be in the top 15 percent (motivating foreign students to out-graduate their domestic peers, shrinking the domestic pool and reducing student numbers). upper percentiles).
Employers will also need to recruit more and invest in internal education to maintain the pool of foreign graduates eligible for work permits. A smaller pool of foreign graduates will motivate employers to compete for workers instead of relying on the greatness of the government ample supply of guest workers willing to accept below market wages. This will make the draw talented workers into the technology industries than losing them to wall street which does not advance science and engineering. Regional wage adjustments can encourage industries that hire these higher-wage, higher-skilled workers locating high-paying operations in lower-cost US cities and towns.
These straightforward reforms would reduce by 90 percent, I believe, the pool of eligible H-1B applicants that troubles Haley. Tens of thousands of guest worker visas would then be available under the current cap, allowing the tech industry to hire top global talent, while encouraging these companies to use them. Great supply of US talent.
Let’s be honest about reforming guest worker visas to bring in global talent, using the market as a guide, rather than being influenced by industries that spend the most on lobbyists. flood zone with applications that will play on the system. With these straightforward reforms, we support the legitimate goals of bringing in hard-to-find talent from around the world and investing in broad supply. homegrown “super talented” students and staff. These strategic reforms will benefit US workers in particular represented minoritiesreal our tech employee opportunitiesand cut the Gordian knot of anti-worker expansion and anti-immigrant restrictions. This is what the “super motivated” industry should do.
This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author(s) are not necessarily their own. American scientific
