President Donald Trump signed an executive action on Friday to impose a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas — in an effort to curb what the administration says is overuse of the program.
I agree that it should be addressed, but I think the program still has its place. For example, I’m currently in the process of resolving an H-1B issue with a candidate with an accepted offer. That candidate was the best candidate for the role by a wide margin.
But I do think the program should be constrained. Allocations should be limited on a per-company basis as a ratio against total number of employees based in the US. In other words, for every H-1B hire, you need N regular employees.
Companies used to do the hard work of building a funnel from university and have backed off in recent years. Some of that is AI. But I think some of it is intentional manipulation with rolling layoffs to keep the employee market soft and diminish the negotiating power of current and prospective employees to zero. If the H-1B tap were to run dry, the employee market would gain strength and companies would have to invest once again in that university pipeline.
I agree that it should be addressed, but I think the program still has its place. For example, I’m currently in the process of resolving an H-1B issue with a candidate with an accepted offer. That candidate was the best candidate for the role by a wide margin.
But I do think the program should be constrained. Allocations should be limited on a per-company basis as a ratio against total number of employees based in the US. In other words, for every H-1B hire, you need N regular employees.
Companies used to do the hard work of building a funnel from university and have backed off in recent years. Some of that is AI. But I think some of it is intentional manipulation with rolling layoffs to keep the employee market soft and diminish the negotiating power of current and prospective employees to zero. If the H-1B tap were to run dry, the employee market would gain strength and companies would have to invest once again in that university pipeline.
H1-B visaholders are in danger living in the US