Robert Sterling has done a deep dive into the facts and figures behind the H1B visa program. He's compiled them into a detailed thread. Here are a few excerpts.
Before I start, one note: All charts in this thread are for applications that were “certified” (in other words, approved for entry into the H-1B lottery). I filtered out applications the gov rejected.
All numbers here are therefore for visas employers actually and realistically attempted to obtain.
. . .
To start with, this program is MASSIVELY popular with employers. The program has a statutory limit of 85,000 visas per year, but employers routinely receive approval for more than 800k applications per year (868k, or 10x the limit, in 2024).
. . .
Contrary to what I expected, the average salary for an H-1B is relatively low—slightly under $120k this year.
. . .
Almost all the prominent job categories are tech-related. The two top categories, for software developer roles, are 1.1M over five years by themselves.
. . .
15 companies alone received approval for 20k+ applications each.
. . .
... these are ALL Indian companies that import H-1B tech workers en masse:
Cognizant (93k)Infosys (61k)Tata Consultancy Services (60k)
Wipro
Capgemini
HCL
Compunnel
Tech Mahindra
MphasisThese aren’t American companies that needed international talent to fill critical roles. They’re foreign companies that appear to have been founded to place overseas tech workers into US companies as contractors.
There's much more at the link. It lays bare the reality behind the brouhaha and argument currently going on. Highly recommended reading.
It seems to me that President Trump can "solve" the H1B crisis by two very simple moves, almost as soon as he takes office:
- Limit the issuing of H1B visas to the statutorily authorized 85,000 per year. That would cut off 90% of the problem, right there.
- Refuse to issue H1B visas to third-party or intermediary companies (i.e. agencies who hire those people, then farm them out to other corporations for a fee). This would force such companies out of business in short order, and also end the exploitation whereby they hold deportation over the heads of "their" staff like a club. "Be a good boy, and accept your lower salary while we take the rest as our fee - and if you don't, we'll cancel your visa and you'll be gone." That's how such companies appear to work.
I look forward to seeing what he actually does about it.
Peter
12 comments:
Relatively low?
120 K?
I made 40K this past year.
I'd happily work for 120K
Elon actually came up with the basis of this idea: All H1B workers must be paid double what an American would get in a comparable job. The whole purported reason for this program is that these folks are absolutely critical talent that we can't find in America, so treat them as such...or admit you're just using them for slave labor.
Twice the average salary in the USA.
I remember when the program started that it was for critical talent unavailable in the U.S. The IEEE fully endorsed the program. When stories came out about US workers training their foreign replacements, I waited in vain for an enforcement arm of the US Government to come down on them like a ton of bricks. It didn't happen, and so it began. I dropped my IEEE membership when they didn't complain about it, either.
Expecting Republicans to follow the statute 85K is about as crazy as expecting Democrats to do it. Yes, it would go far in solving the problem, but it will never happen.
From here:
Well, Indian companies abuse the program by being consultancies: they essentially air drop in tens of thousands of Indians who they’ll rent to you so that they can do whatever it is you want them to do: accounting, programming, or running a cash register.
Running a cash register is a specialized skill that Americans can’t do? Yes, if you believe a company up in the Northeast which applied to sponsor $22,000 a year convenience store clerks on H-1B visas.
I find it difficult to believe that there aren't any qualified American workers available to run a convenience store cash register. But that is apparently the corporate business narrative.
I used to work for Cap Gemini before they became an H1-B visa farm. They were a good company to work for back in the early 1990s.
Like EVERY government program the H1-B program has been mutated and twisted into a graft and corruption specialty that makes a LOT of money for a tiny portion of people at the expense of Americans in general. It needs to be terminated. NOW. COMPLETELY.
Ok, unemployed degreed engineer with a track record of success. used to work for a Tata competitor as a hired gun engineer 20 years ago. We only hired US engineers as we supplied solutions to the defense industry. We didn't send a swinging dick we sent a solution team, solved the problem and then was gone. Companies loved this but it took work to line up the work. Much easier to place a body at a desk at a low rate and keep them their because of the visa hanging over their head. Get rid of the H1B altogether. I also instructed at an Engineering school. Jobs dried up in the last few years of FJB's economy. We have enough home grown talent.
Spin Drift
He is referring applications, not Visas actually issued. All his charts say is that 90% of all H1B Visa applicants do not get a visa. Which is exactly the way the program worked when I was a corporate IT recruiter.
Have you asked for the ice cream at any inner city Mc Donald's?
I repeat what I said to Musk openly:
https://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2024/12/some-people-just-need-helpful-boot-in.html
There's nothing about the H-1B scam that shouldn't be solved by a flamethrower, and anyone who supports it in any form should take a running chainsaw suppository until the problem self-corrects.
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