H-1B Visa Program Under Attack: Are foreign workers taking over American jobs?

The H-1B visa petition filing season for 2026 is already underway. At a time when there is a strong backlash against immigrants and jobs being given to foreigners instead of Americans, the United States is prepared to welcome more foreign workers under the H-1B visa program, which aims to attract highly educated global talent to American companies.

From April 1, the selected petitioners are required to file the H-1B cap-subject petition within 90 days. In each fiscal year from October 1 to September 31, Congress mandates that 65,000 H-1B visas be issued under the standard quota and 20,000 H-1B visas under the master’s cap.

Indian nationals are the largest H-1B visa beneficiaries, making the program a topic of discussion in U.S.-India bilateral meetings, but visas are issued to individuals of various nationalities.

In a report titled, ‘Separating fact from fiction on H-1B visas, written by Jeff Lande, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center and president of the Lande Group and Rami Fakhoury, the founder and managing director of Fakhoury Global Immigration USA, the authors discuss the impact of H-1B visa on American job sector.

The authors argue that the H-1B visa program is attacked every year. Critics claim that the program displaces U.S. citizen workers and depresses wages despite documented ongoing worker shortages and high wage levels in all the major occupational categories filled by H-1B holders.

The evidence shows that they are highly skilled workers who command market (and in many cases, above-market) wages, and whose contributions help not only their employers, but also their employers’ clients and the economy as a whole create and maintain jobs.

Are H-1B jobs taking over American jobs?
The report says, there were more than 170 million people working in the U.S. in January 2025, so these highly skilled workers reflect only one-half of one percent of the workforce, and they are all paid the prevailing wage or actual market wage, whichever is higher.

Additionally, a 2022 report found that between 2003 and 2021, the median wage of H-1B workers grew by 52 percent. During the same period, the median wage of all U.S. workers increased by 39 percent. Which is to say, they are not cheap replacement workers, undercutting Americans’ wages.

H-1B holders, including doctors, technology professionals, engineers, and researchers, significantly contribute to the U.S. economy and drive innovation across various industries.

“Many of these H-1B skilled workers are at the forefront of innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence that will be vital if the U.S. is to retain its dominance in information-technology development,” the authors argue.

The impact of the H-1B visa program is also on the job sector. According to the report, two recent studies found that increases in the presence of H-1B workers in an occupation are associated with a decrease in the unemployment rate within that occupation.

H-1B Visa Program Outlook
The report says that the current expectation is that both the Trump administration and Congress will attempt to impose new restrictions on the H-1B program.

During his first term, President Trump aimed to significantly restructure and restrict the H-1B program by prioritizing wage-level registrations, increasing required wages above market rates, and increasing fees.

The 2017 “Buy American, Hire American” executive order increased scrutiny of H-1B petitions, leading to denial rates approaching 20% and higher requests for further evidence in 2018, causing significant uncertainty and costs for businesses.

The Trump administration and Congress should carefully consider the consequences of any changes before moving ahead. The H-1B visa program has proven to be highly successful for attracting and retaining much-needed skilled labor while protecting the interests of U.S. workers, which is what the authors suggest.

Source: https://www.financialexpress.com/business/investing-abroad-h-1b-visa-program-under-scrutiny-amid-concerns-over-foreign-workers-taking-over-american-jobs-3804216/