Free Republic

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has signaled that the H-1B visa system will face key reforms before the $100,000 fee applies in 2026. He called the lottery “bizarre,” opposed low-cost hiring, and said visas must go to the most highly-skilled workers. -snip- Lutnick said the H-1B visa lottery system is flawed and needs reform. Referring to conversations with the heads of two leading global tech companies, he said they found the concept of allocating visas for skilled workers through a lottery “bizarre.” He argued that the US must ensure visas go only to the most highly skilled professionals. -snip- The...

A growing push in the United States to restrict post-study work rights and increase taxes on international graduates is creating serious concern among Indian students. At the heart of the issue is Optional Practical Training (OPT), a popular programme that allows international students to work in the US after finishing their degrees. For many, OPT is a critical stepping stone to securing an H-1B work visa and building a long-term career in the country. What is OPT — and why does it matter? OPT lets students on F-1 visas work in the US for up to 12 months after graduation,...

The number of new FHA mortgages granted to non-permanent residents has dropped to near-zero following the Trump administration’s recent executive orders targeting immigrants, according to new data. In a March 26 letter, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that non-permanent residents in the United States, including H-1B visa holders, would no longer be eligible for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), effective May 25. The move, the letter said, was in line with President Donald Trump’s “commitment to safeguarding economic opportunities for U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents,” while also ensuring that “federal benefits, including access...

The blanket $100,000 fee and Project Firewall are nothing but various elements being employed by the Trump government to turn the existing H-1B visa program upside-down. The focus has now shifted to hiring American workers. -snip- US Labor Department issues reminder to ‘hire American’ Merely hours ago, the US government department reiterated the sentiment in yet another official social media warning addressed to companies relying on the H-1B visa. “Under our Project Firewall plan, we’re eliminating fraud and abuse in the H-1B program and ensuring AMERICANS are prioritised in the hiring process,” the new tweet stated. The post also highlighted...

The US Department of Labor (DOL) has launched ‘Project Firewall’, a sweeping enforcement initiative aimed at curbing misuse of the H-1B visa program and protecting American jobs, particularly in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. The objective is to ensure employers prioritize qualified Americans when hiring workers and to hold violators accountable. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said the measure would ensure “highly skilled jobs go to Americans first.” For the first time in history, the Secretary of Labor will personally certify investigations into suspected H-1B violations, which officials described as a “historic action.” Employers found guilty could face...

Many Indian-Americans have chosen to remain silent on H-1B changes and immigration struggles. This piece tries to decipher the reason, the pressures facing diaspora communities, and why success should come with responsibility. -snip- Created in 1990 under President George H. W. Bush, the H-1B program was designed to allow U.S. employers to hire foreign professionals to fill critical skill gaps. What is, in reality, a randomized lottery where every applicant has an equal chance of selection, regardless of nationality, is often mischaracterized as a program favouring Indians, simply because they make up the largest share of participants. Counting visa renewals...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up a challenge to a rule adopted during Democratic former President Barack Obama's administration allowing the spouses of people with H-1B visas for highly-skilled jobs to work in the United States. The justices denied a petition, opens new tab by Save Jobs USA, which represents American tech workers who it says were displaced by foreign labor, to review a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that said the Department of Homeland Security had the power to adopt the rule in 2015. Following its usual practice, the...

America’s largest business lobby, the US Chamber of Commerce, is exploring legal action against the Trump administration’s decision to impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, Bloomberg reported. The move has reignited debate on the role of Indian professionals in the US economy and the political calculations behind Washington’s tightening visa rules. Chamber officials this week consulted member companies in a series of calls and virtual meetings to test support for a lawsuit. The consultations reflect widespread unease among large corporations, particularly technology firms, which are the heaviest users of the H-1B programme. The Chamber had previously challenged...

Somebody told me there was a H-1B application for a head pickleball professional, so I had to look it up. Sure enough. (Jumbo's pickleball) https://guestworkervisas.com/gwv/h1bjunkiesviewtest.php?jobtitle=pickleball

T-Mobile, the US telecom giant, announced on Monday that it has appointed its current Chief Operating Officer, India-born Srini Gopalan, as the company’s next Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective November 1, 2025. With this elevation, Gopalan joins the distinguished club of India-born CEOs heading some of the world’s most influential companies in the US, a group that includes Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Sundar Pichai of Alphabet and Google, Vimal Kapur of Honeywell, Raj Subramaniam of FedEx, Arvind Krishna of IBM, and Shantanu Narayen of Adobe.

Among issues Charlie Kirk took a strong stand against was immigration, even legal immigration stemming from H1B visas that many Indian students and professionals use. “America does not need more visas for people from India. Perhaps no form of legal immigration has so displaced American workers as those from India. Enough already. We’re full. Let’s finally put our own people first,” he said in a post on X on September 1 He was responding to a Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham’s post suggesting that a US-India trade deal might involve more visas for Indian professionals. In a subsequent post on...

Silicon Valley isn't the only industry reeling from President Donald Trump's plans to charge companies hiring skilled foreign workers $100,000 for visas. Wall Street banks and other financial firms have long used the H-1B visa program to fill an array of roles, from computer programmers to traders and even investment bankers.Trump's executive order, signed late Friday, "caught everyone off guard," JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said on CNBC while in Mumbai, India, this week. In order to visualize the potential impact on the financial industry, Business Insider turned to publicly available data from the Department of Labor and the US...

Daniel Keene served up a Texas-sized take on H1-B visas and immigration last month — and says he paid a hefty price for it. Keene, who owns Boundaries Coffee, a popular local coffee chain outside Dallas, publicly shared his thoughts on the program that allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers for specialty occupations in a post on X, while noting the "typical view" in his suburban neighborhood. "We have to cancel the H-1Bs," Keene, of Aubrey, wrote on September 6. "I want my kids to grow up in America. Not India." The post, which was deleted days later, included...

American companies and institutions have utilized the notoriously abused H-1B work visa program to staff diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, according to documents released by Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. “I’ve reviewed numerous examples of hospitals, universities and other employers hiring foreign H-1B workers as DEI bureaucrats,” Schmitt said on social media. “Examples range from large banks and law firms to universities, healthcare systems, and even municipal park districts. Obviously, DEI positions are plainly non-technical and ideological in nature, and appear to fall outside the ‘specialty occupation’ intent of the H-1B statute.” The senator’s office reviewed H-1B visa applications submitted...

The biggest name in the American hotel business is not Hilton, Marriott, or Ritz-Carlton — it is Patel. A LinkedIn post by Sarthak Ahuja recently shared how the Gujarati Indian community, which forms less than 1% of the US population, now controls about 60% of the country’s hospitality business. It began with one man’s journey in the 1930s that laid the foundation for an entire community to rise in the hotel industry. The story traces back to Kanji Manchhu Desai, who arrived in the United States from Trinidad in 1934. He overstayed his visa and worked on farms in California....

The United States issued nearly one-fifth fewer student visas in August compared to the same month in 2024, following a crackdown by the Trump administration. A sharp decline in student visas for Indian nationals was the most significant contributor to this drop, with India overtaken by China as the leading source of foreign students. According to data from the International Trade Commission, the US issued 313,138 student visas in August, marking a 19.1% decrease year-over-year. India, which had been the top source of foreign students to the United States in 2024, saw a staggering 44.5% decline in student visa issuance....

The Trump administration plans to publish a new H-1B rule expected to propose additional immigration restrictions on how employers use the visa and who qualifies for it. Shortly before the White House announced a $100,000 fee on many H-1B visa holders, the Department of Homeland Security published its regulatory agenda. The agenda includes a rule to change the H-1B visa category. The summary for the upcoming rule “Reforming the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification Program” states: “DHS will propose to reform the H-1B program by revising eligibility for cap exemptions, providing greater scrutiny for employers that have violated program requirements, and...

When Qian Zhang boarded a flight from Shanghai to Boston at age 18, she thought she was heading toward the "best version" of her life. It was 2009, during President Barack Obama's first term, when the U.S. economy was rebounding and opportunities for well-educated workers seemed plentiful. She was bound for Dartmouth College, a top choice for many Chinese students, and later found her way to Harvard Business School. Qian embraced the American dream: the promise of equal opportunity, a country that rewards talent and hard work, and a place where global citizens like her could belong. By her early...

Dear Secretary Lutnick: On behalf of the members of the United States Chamber of Commerce, who are businesses of all sizes, I write concerning the President’s recent proclamation implementing a $100,000 fee on H-1B petitions. Since 1990, the H-1B program has helped grow the U.S. economy, create American jobs, and lift wages for U.S. workers, by providing a path for a limited number of highly-skilled individuals located around the world to enter the United States and contribute to our economy. Studies have demonstrated that the H-1B program contributes to increased domestic employment and higher wages. Studies that specifically looked at...

The White House has rolled out a memo, named A Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education to nine of the nation’s most prestigious institutions, including MIT, Dartmouth, and the University of Pennsylvania among others. The document dictates how universities should admit students, hire faculty, and shape campus life, linking compliance to federal rewards. At the heart of it lies a measure that could redefine the future of US higher education: a proposal to cap international undergraduate enrolment at 15 per cent. The nine-page directive goes further, restricting the number of students from any single country to no more than...