‘American workers being replaced with lower-paid foreign labour,’ White House justifies H-1B visa move

WASHINGTON, DC: The White House issued a fact sheet, justifying US President Donald Trump’s move to impose an annual fee of USD 100,000 on H-1B visa applications, citing concern over US workers being replaced with “lower-paid foreign labour”

The White House stated that the share of IT workers with H-1B visas has risen from 32 per cent in FY 2003 to over 65 per cent in recent years, highlighting the growing unemployment among the US citizens due to the H-1B visas “abuse.”

“Unemployment among recent computer science graduates has reached 6.1 per cent and 7.5 per cent for computer engineering graduates – more than double the rates for biology or art history majors. The number of foreign STEM workers in the United States has more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, while overall STEM employment only increased 44.5 per cent during that time,” the fact sheet issued by The White House stated.

The White House mentioned that American companies are replacing US workers with H-1B workers.

“One company was approved for 5,189 H-1B workers in FY 2025, while laying off roughly 16,000 U.S. employees this year. Another company was approved for 1,698 H-1B workers in FY 2025, yet announced it was laying off 2,400 U.S. workers in Oregon in July. A third company has reduced its US workforce by 27,000 since 2022 while receiving 25,075 H-1B approvals. Yet another company reportedly cut 1,000 American jobs in February despite receiving 1,137 H-1B approvals for FY 2025, the White House stated.

The White House further stated that this move is taken to put American workers first, highlighting Trump’s efforts to bring employment back to the US workers.

“Voters gave President Trump a resounding mandate to put American workers first, and he has worked every day to deliver on that commitment. President Trump has aggressively and successfully negotiated new trade deals to bring manufacturing jobs back home and attract new investments to the U.S,” The White House stated in the fact sheet.

“Since President Trump returned to office, all employment gains have gone to American-born workers–unlike last year during the same period under President Biden, when all employment gains went to foreign-born workers,” The White House added.

This move has sparked concerns about its effects on Indian tech professionals and remittances, with 71-72% of H-1B visas going to Indians.

The Indian government said on Saturday that the full implications of the US decision to impose a USD 100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications are being studied by all concerned, including the Indian industry, and that the measure is likely to have humanitarian consequences by way of the disruption caused for families.

In a statement regarding restrictions to the US H1B visa programme, Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said industry in both India and the US has a stake in innovation and creativity and can be expected to consult on the best path forward.

“The Government has seen reports related to the proposed restrictions on the US H1B visa program. The full implications of the measure are being studied by all concerned, including by Indian industry, which has already put out an initial analysis clarifying some perceptions related to the H1B program,” the statement said

“Industry in both India and the US has a stake in innovation and creativity and can be expected to consult on the best path forward,” it added. (ANI)