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‘American dream for…’: Trump admin's H-1B visa misuse video has bold India mention
The video includes a pie-chart graphic depicting the share of countries with most number of H-1B visa-holders and shows India with the highest share at 72%.
The United States' Department of Labour has released a new video advertisement highlighting the misuse of H-1B visa and how the American dream was ‘stolen’ from American people at the hands of foreign workers. The video includes a pie-chart graphic depicting the share of countries with most number of H-1B visa-holders and shows India with the highest share at 72 per cent as the voiceover says that the American dream has been stolen from the American people.
“Many young Americans have had this dream stolen from them by foreign workers as politicians and bureaucrats allowed the companies to abuse the H-1B visa,” says the voiceover in the video shared on US Department of Labor's X handle on Thursday, October 30.
Also read: From worker visa to H-1B: How changes in US visa rules will impact Indians
It further says that through US President Donald Trump's Project Firewall, companies are being held accountable for H-1B abuse and prioritise Americans in hiring process. The 52-second-long video ends on the note “Recapturing the American dream for American people.”
Keeping up with his anti-immigration pitch, Trump has lately introduced policies that crack down on the work visas.
According to the data from the Office of Homeland Security, India was the largest overall sending country in fiscal year 2024, contributing 33 per cent of the total non-immigrant population in the United States.
On September 19, Trump signed a proclamation imposing a staggering fee of $100,000 on H-1B visas, a move that took effect on September 21.
Also read: Thousands of Indians in US may lose jobs as Trump admin tweaks work permit rules
The move triggered panic, particularly among the Indian community in the US, the White House later clarified that the fee was a one-time payment and not an annual fee. It also stated that the fee hike does not affect the current visa holders.
The H-1B visa, a non-immigrant programme, allows US companies to hire foreign workers in specialised roles, such as IT, engineering, medicine, and science and is issued for a three-year period, extendable up to six. This visa enables workers to reside and work in the US legally while employed by the company. While hiking the fee for this programme, the Trump administration justified that this move was being taken to ensure that only highly-skilled foreign workers, who cannot be replaced by skilled American workers, would enter the US.
