Visa Lawyer Blog
The National Foundation for American Policy released a few interesting facts about H1B visa usage. You will be surprised when you read the following:
– Although important for the competitiveness of many U.S. companies, new H-1B visa holders represented only 0.06 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force in 2009, a tiny proportion of the U.S. workforce, making unsupportable claims that such individuals are “destroying” large numbers of U.S. jobs. Moreover, for the past several years no new H-1B visa holder could even be hired by companies in the United States for 4 to 12 months at a time due to quotas being exhausted, making it unlikely that employers would go without filling jobs if a qualified U.S. applicant was available.
– A large variety of businesses and organizations in America, including public school systems, hire H-1B professionals every year. In FY 2009, 27,288 different employers hired at least one individual on a new H- 1B petition, according to USCIS. Contrary to the popular impression, 96 percent of the employers (26,304 of 27,288) hired 10 or fewer individuals on a new H-1B petition. A total of 18,747 employers, or 69 percent, hired only one foreign national on a new H-1B petition.
Examining the 2009 H-1B numbers and recent research on high skill immigration shows many of the arguments made to restrict H-1B visas are weak. H-1Bs are used by a large variety of businesses and organizations in the United States. Given the long waits for green cards, H-1B visas remain often the only way an employer can hire an outstanding international student or bring a talented foreign national to America to work.
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