Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Created in 1990 under then-President George HW Bush, the H-1B visa was introduced to help American companies fill jobs requiring specialised skills with overseas talent. Under Donald Trump’s admiration, Washington is now looking more closely at who gets through the door. Amid this backdrop, US Vice President JD Vance has signalled tougher scrutiny of companies seeking to hire foreign workers as the administration moves to protect the interests of American workers.
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Vance made the remarks during an interview on the All-In podcast, where he defended Trump’s H-1B policies, including the $100,000 visa payment, and argued that the programme should prioritise highly skilled workers who can make a meaningful contribution to the US economy.
“The H-1B should not exist to replace American workers with low-wage foreigners. It should exist to enrich the American economy,” Vance said.
His comments come days after Trump signed a September 18 executive order directing US agencies to take an employer’s recent or planned layoffs into account when reviewing H-1B applications. The administration has also extended a separate entry restriction framework involving a $100,000 payment for certain H-1B workers seeking entry from outside the US.
‘YOU LAID OFF 5,000 AMERICANS’
Vance used a hypothetical company to explain the kind of employer the administration wants to scrutinise more closely. He described a firm claiming it was “desperate for workers” while its own records showed it had recently laid off thousands of Americans.
“You’ll have a company that applies for an H-1B and they’ll say, ‘Oh, we’re desperate for workers. We can’t find the workers.’ And then you go and look at their history and they’ve laid off 5,000 people. Well, that’s ridiculous,” Vance said.
“If you’re laying off American workers, you shouldn’t be going to the market searching for foreign workers to replace them,” he added.
Trump’s September 18 executive order now directs the Departments of State, Labour and Homeland Security to consider whether an employer has laid off, or plans to lay off, similarly situated US workers when reviewing H-1B cases. The Labour Department has also been told to examine information from previously filed labour-condition applications and determine whether further enforcement action is warranted.
$100,000 H-1B FEE ADDS TO VISA PRESSURE
The administration’s H-1B overhaul also includes a separate $100,000 payment requirement for certain petitions involving workers outside the US. The restriction has been extended through September 21, 2027, with limited exceptions, including cases deemed to be in the national interest.
The White House says the measure is intended to curb what it describes as abuse of the programme, particularly where employers or outsourcing firms use lower-paid foreign workers to displace Americans.
The administration said H-1B registrations from major IT outsourcing firms fell 92 per cent after earlier restrictions were introduced. It also reported a rise in selected registrations linked to the two highest wage levels and a decline in those associated with the lowest wage level.
Those figures reflect the administration’s assessment of the policy’s impact. The $100,000 payment has also faced legal challenges in US courts, with litigation continuing over its implementation.
VANCE WANTS H-1B TO TARGET SKILLED TALENT
Vance said the administration had examined what it considered “fraud” in the system and opted for administrative changes because Congress lacked the political will to rewrite the law.
He argued that H-1B visas should be reserved for workers whose skills provide a significant economic or technological benefit to the US.
He illustrated the point by contrasting highly specialised talent with a lower-paid replacement for an existing American worker.
“You’re not just replacing one accountant who makes $60,000 with a lower-wage foreign accountant who makes $45,000 a year. That is not what the programme exists for,” he said.
WHY INDIANS ARE PARTICULARLY EXPOSED
The changes matter disproportionately to Indian professionals because India is by far the largest source of H-1B beneficiaries.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services data show that people born in India accounted for 71 per cent of approved H-1B petitions in fiscal year 2024, or about 283,400 approvals. China was a distant second at about 12 per cent.
That means tighter scrutiny of employers’ hiring practices, particularly in IT and outsourcing, could have a direct effect on Indian professionals seeking to enter the US through H-1B sponsorship.
But the $100,000 payment does not mean every Indian H-1B worker in America suddenly has to pay that amount. The current restriction is focused on certain new H-1B workers who are outside the United States. Existing H-1B holders and foreign graduates already in the US are not generally covered by that specific entry restriction.
WHAT IT COULD MEAN FOR INDIAN TECH WORKERS
For Indian professionals outside the US, the biggest issue is likely to be how employers respond to the additional cost and scrutiny.
A $100,000 payment makes bringing a worker from India to the US considerably more expensive for an employer. That could encourage some companies to hire locally, move more work to overseas centres or reserve H-1B sponsorship for roles they consider particularly difficult to fill in the American labour market.
Indian technology companies could also face pressure because their traditional business models have relied heavily on moving skilled employees to client locations in the US. Reuters reported after the original $100,000 fee was introduced that India’s technology industry warned of higher costs and disruption to US operations.
At the same time, the policy does not necessarily affect all Indian applicants equally.
India’s exposure is significant beyond H-1B workers alone. More than 363,000 Indian students were enrolled at US higher-education institutions in the 2024-25 academic year, making India the largest source of international students in the US.
Taken together, the changes point to a broader shift in Washington: H-1B sponsorship is being tied more closely to specialised talent and the protection of American jobs.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
