American Corporations And The H-1B Visa Scams They Use
Corporate America has been aiding and abetting the loss of American jobs for decades. Using H-1B visas that allow them to hire foreign workers for less, they have essentially imported foreigners and exported Americans from their companies.
If you’re unfamiliar, an H-1B visa is a temporary, non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. employers to hire foreign professionals in “specialty occupations,” which are jobs that require a bachelor’s degree or higher. It is an employer-sponsored visa, meaning the U.S. company must file a petition on behalf of the foreign worker. The H-1B is valid for up to three years and can be extended for another three, for a maximum of six years in most cases.
The excuse corporations gave was that H-1B visas were necessary because there wasn’t enough qualified American talent; however, that excuse has now been exposed as a lie.
The litmus test that exposed this falsehood became obvious when President Trump placed a $100,000 fee on each application. That fee guarantees that corporations will no longer flippantly replace American workers with foreigners, because it is no longer cost-effective. This is another way that Trump is fighting for the American worker.
Currently, Wal-Mart employs 2,390 H-1B visa holders, more than any other retailer. On the tech front, Amazon hired over 10,000 H-1B workers while becoming America’s second-largest employer. Microsoft brought in 5,189 foreign visa holders, and Meta imported 5,123 workers on H-1B visas.
To appreciate the deception, you must have both sides of the story. Here’s where the deception comes into play. One software company was approved to hire 5,000 H-1B workers this year while laying off 15,000 Americans.
Another tech firm in Oregon was granted 1,700 H-1B visas while firing 2,400 Americans, and a third company, since 2022, has been approved for 25,000 H-1B workers while eliminating 27,000 American workers.
The H-1B program caps new visas at 85,000 annually, and remember, corporations
have claimed they needed these visas to hire the “best and brightest” minds in the world because they didn’t exist in America.
If that’s true, then the numbers should back them up, and if the hiring and firing numbers weren’t enough to convince a rational person, the wage percentages should prove them to be correct. Right? Wrong.
Between 2020 and 2024, only 15.8 percent of H-1B applications were filed at the highest wage level.
Nearly half were filed at Level II wages — below the median for that occupation.
These numbers prove that merit was never the real issue; cheap labor was always the priority. Even more disgusting is that some U.S. workers have even been forced to train their foreign replacements as a condition of receiving their severance package.
Reports highlight various ways American corporations misuse the H-1B visa program. These abuses include manipulating the visa lottery and committing wage theft, with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) often falling short in enforcing regulations effectively.
Some ways Corporations skirt the law:
Undercutting U.S. Wages: The law requires employers to pay H-1B workers the “prevailing wage” for their positions. However, there are loopholes that companies can exploit. Some employers unlawfully underpay H-1B workers compared to similarly employed U.S. workers. Additionally, certain consulting firms base their entire business model on utilizing cheaper H-1B labor.
Some companies, particularly large outsourcing firms and staffing agencies, have been found to manipulate the visa lottery by submitting multiple applications for the same foreign worker, thereby unfairly increasing their chances of securing a visa. In response to this issue, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently introduced new regulations to curb this practice.
Creating loopholes for outsourcing: A misinterpretation of the law by the Department of Labor (DOL) has allowed companies to outsource jobs to firms that employ H-1B workers instead of hiring foreign workers directly. This enables them to replace U.S. employees with cheaper labor while still adhering to the letter of the law.
Benching H-1B Workers: Some employers illegally “bench” H-1B workers, placing them on unpaid leave between assignments despite being required to pay them the certified wage. Because the visa is tied to the employer, this situation leaves the worker vulnerable and with limited recourse.
Charging Illegal Fees: In certain instances, employers have unlawfully required H-1B workers to cover their own visa and attorney fees, or have made improper wage deductions.
The Democrats will have mixed emotions about Trump’s new system. While they won’t care that it forces corporations to hire more Americans, they’ll hate the fact that the quotas will show fewer foreigners are being hired.
The Democrats love quotas for all the reasons they worship. They ignore merit, and the hires are based on unfair factors. In many cases, skin color and sexual preference, or, as in this case, getting outsiders in the door, even if they are being exploited with lower pay.
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers destroyed their argument in one sentence:
“President Trump promised to put American workers first, and his commonsense action on H1-B visas does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages.”
Keep paying attention, America. Trump is definitely putting America and Americans first. Remember that the next time you see a MAGA hat.
