#visa

Trump admin to make decision on OPT end of year.
Many senators already sent letter to DHS secretary to abolish the program effective immediately.

For context , about 500K OPT is used by companies yearly. This is even worse than H1B
Just fresh graduates taking over your job.

For the H1B, MTG already introduced a bill to abolish it. Unfortunately, Trump wants the H1B to satisfy his tech donors and oligarchs.

Indian-origin Howard professor Ronil Hira, a critic of the H-1B visa, explained why U.S. companies favor it. Despite President Trump recently signaling a need for certain foreign talent, the administration imposed a $100,000 fee on H-1B hires, sending mixed messages. Hira noted that many H-1B workers have ordinary skills available domestically, but employers prefer them because they can be paid less and are bound to their employers. While some highly skilled workers do come via H-1B, the program often fills roles for cost and control rather than genuine skill gaps. Hira emphasized that H-1B is a labor policy, not an immigration issue, and criticized its weak worker protections, which make it attractive to Silicon Valley.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/they-are-controllable-indian-origin-howard-professor-explains-2-reasons-why-us-companies-prefer-h-1bs/articleshow/125350198.cms

Americans used to be qualified to do any job. What changed?

https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/dhs-ends-automatic-extension-of-employment-authorization

Every year, the United States opens its doors to tens of thousands of H-1B visa holders — highly skilled professionals, mostly from India and China, who fill roles in technology, engineering, and healthcare. Politicians and CEOs justify it as a necessity: “We don’t have enough qualified workers.” But maybe the real question is — why don’t we?

The U.S. government has built a system that rewards importing talent instead of investing in it. For decades, America has underfunded public universities, allowed tuition to skyrocket, and turned higher education into a business. A degree in computer science or engineering can now leave a young American buried under six figures of debt. Meanwhile, companies say they “can’t find talent” and turn abroad — where other nations educate millions of students in STEM for a fraction of the cost.

Countries like India and China don’t just produce skilled graduates — they do it through public investment. Their taxpayers subsidize the training of engineers who later come to work for Google, Microsoft, or Amazon in America. The U.S. benefits from that education for free. It’s a brilliant deal for corporations — and a terrible one for American students.

The H-1B program wasn’t meant to undercut American workers, but that’s often the effect. It’s a convenient tool for corporations to access cheaper, compliant labor without addressing the deeper issue: America’s refusal to make education accessible and affordable. Free tuition or debt-free public universities would build a domestic pipeline of talent that could easily compete with the global workforce. But such reforms don’t attract corporate lobbyists. Visa programs do.

So, the cycle continues. The U.S. imports the best minds from abroad, while millions of bright young Americans are priced out of their own future. The “land of opportunity” keeps outsourcing opportunity itself.

If America truly wants to stay competitive in the 21st century, it must stop renting its brainpower and start growing it.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/09/24/2025-18473/weighted-selection-process-for-registrants-and-petitioners-seeking-to-file-cap-subject-h-1b

On October 23 2025, White House press secretary said the “H1B system has been spammed with fraud”. I take that to mean they know the H1B system is abused and misused and perhaps some corrective actions need to occur.

I've been hearing some buzz about a potential change in policy at one of our Colorado offices. From what I've gathered, contractors are being given the green light to work permanently from home, while full-time employees (FTEs) are being asked to come back to the office.

I'm curious if anyone else has heard about this or has more details. It's got me wondering a few things:

Is this actually happening, and is it just in Colorado or across the whole company?

What does this mean for contractors in the long run? Are they going to be phased out or kept on indefinitely because of this work-from-home flexibility or forced to move out to other offices?

For FTEs, what are the implications, especially for those on visas like H-1B or L-1? How does this affect immigration compliance, and are there risks of layoffs, relocations, or forced conversions to contractor status?

If anyone has any insights or personal experiences, especially those in Colorado or who have been through something similar, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

So what have Singaporean, Canadian and European Expats in the US been told… are we sending them all back?

I need somebody to confirm the specific type of visa we are using to bring people over from KLTC and BTC. After the recent layoff announcements I think it’s high time for employees to go on defense. Based on my own research I think there is a credible case to be made the company is violating the intent of the visas being granted. If so, it’s time for employees to start leaving anonymous tips to several government offices who could investigate (USCIS, Homeland Security Investigations, Dept of Labor inspector general). More on that later. I need somebody with SPECIFIC knowledge of how we are bringing people over to comment.

Here’s the situation I have observed for years now: employees from our overseas technical centers come to U.S. manufacturing sites for 1–2-year assignments. They’ve typically worked for the company abroad for a couple of years in process or technical support roles, then rotate into our entry-level plant engineer jobs here.

The company says this is part of a rotation program to build knowledge, but these engineers seem to be doing the same daily production-support work as U.S. college-hire engineers — not managing people or bringing unique proprietary technology. Many of these sites now have at least one rotational engineer on staff at any given time, which could give the impression this is not about training, but instead a cost reduction program. Paired with decreasing headcount at the same sites, it might give the impression these visas are being used to promote offshoring.

Does that kind of role meet the L-1A or L-1B definition? From what I’ve read, L-1A is for managers/executives and L-1B for specialized knowledge. What type of visa are these ex pats?

Would this typically be considered valid use of the L-1 category?

Ford has more than 10k employees on H1B/H4/OPT Visas, it's the largest Visa bag holder Automaker in US.
Time to change the tag line,
Great Job Guys!!!

H1-B holders are disappearing

Next trip is heavily tax and higher tariff on companies hiring on offshore operations.

TATA Consulting Services CEO K. Krithivasan indicated the company will halt new H-1B recruitment and shift toward hiring locally in the US and other priority markets. TCS remains the largest US H-1B employer with 98,259 hires from 2009 to 2025, including 5,505 in 2025. He said the US already has sufficient H-1 staff, renewals will be selective, and local participation will rise, linked to AI work that needs client proximity and broader skill mixes, similar to TCS’s high local staffing in Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.

Analysts read this as a wider pivot in visa strategies. They expect companies such as Amazon, Cognizant, and Microsoft to favor L-1 transfers to avoid about 100,000 dollars per H-1B applicant, reducing fresh H-1B demand and speeding a move to L-1 routes for US roles.

TATA Consulting Services CEO K. Krithivasan says no new H-1B hiring soon, with a shift to growing local staff in the US and other markets. TCS will renew some existing H-1Bs, but aims to boost local participation, citing AI projects that need closer client work and broader skills.

Analysts expect others may copy this move. Companies may favor L-1 transfers to cut about 100,000 dollars per H-1B hire, reducing new H-1B demand.

Nokia has an "American" CEO for a purpose. But will TACO use American tax dollars to help Finland? Hope not, since Nokia has outsourced lots of American jobs in wireless telecom, fixed network, and cloud telecom networks to other nations such as China, India, CHINA (repeated for a reason), Poland, Hungry, Portugal, France, Canada, Mexico, etc. And decreased drastically the tens of thousands of employees they once had in USA. Also, major customers such as AT&T and Verizon kicked Nokia out of it's 5G network. And now they want to talk about working together on quantum and 6G after giving away the 4G and 5G technology to China (with China's 51% ownership of Nokia Shanghai Bell). Nokia is now begging the US gov't for partnership only because China has decreased it's business with Nokia drastically over the past several years. If China was still giving Nokia business and expanding in China, would Nokia have even hired an American CEO? By the way, Nokia told Trump it has 7000 employees in US, but they forgot to mention that 1/3 are on foreign work visa in every single business group including many in research. That amounts to ONLY about 5000 or less "American" employees.

I know one person was let go. That person told me entire team of three people were let go.
Spending on AI so Visa has to save money somewhere.

I’m tired of executives saying we need H1B, how come SpaceX has zero H1B? Exxon/Amazon are more innovative than SpaceX?

https://www.myvisajobs.com/employer/wells-fargo-bank/

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/01/china/china-k-visa-backlash-intl-hnk

Dept of Labor is probing WF on H1B abuse. Wf has been identified as having hiring practices that have triggered concern for lack of compliance to H1b program.

Clearly, as we’ve all seen, WF has abused H1b in technology. This has now come to an end, with the company quickly moving off H1b use and renewals.

It’s one thing to use this program to hire where there is a true gap, but we know the reality and see it daily. - that is they’ve brought thousands of Indians with questionable skills and credentials to the U.S. and are paying them significantly less than American citizens while there is no shortage of qualified Americans. Thus, a pure cost play vs appropriate use of the visa.

Hiring people directly in another company and doing another round of layoffs

Be prepared for more layoffs in Clearwater

There is a bill introduced for H1B and L1(aka BTC) visa. Call your senators to add more harsh restrictions!! BTC expats must go!

Hi all,
With current h1b fee, do you think if any hope for new h1b hiring for QA positions at Dell? Thanks.

With 100k$ price tag for an H1-B and massive tariffs on outsourced labor and overseas remittances, get ready for an end to this scam of a program.

It's going to be a bright, sun shiny day.

Start packing, Saars.

It’s a 100k one time company fee for new H1Bs. This won’t affect existing H1BS. Theres like over 100 thousand of them already in the country. And they can just renew it. 100k one time fee is NOTHING for a company like Fiserv. They’ll probably just continue their same song and dance and continue to exploit America and the American people.

Both dems and reps are talking about reforming the visas.

Everyone knows it is hot garbage.

The end is nigh.

Are there chances to be let go at MD level. Recently moved on L1 to the US. With the current visa situation and layoff news, seems a bit scary

Project Firewall is an enforcement initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on September 19, 2025, aimed at curbing abuse in the H-1B visa program. It focuses on investigating employers suspected of exploiting H-1B visas to displace American workers with lower-wage foreign labor, particularly in high-skilled STEM fields. The project prioritizes “America first” hiring by ensuring compliance with visa rules and rooting out fraud.
Key Aspects:
• Leadership and Scope: Led by the DOL’s Office of Immigration Policy, Employment and Training Administration, and Wage and Hour Division, with collaboration from the Department of Justice, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The Secretary of Labor can personally certify investigations for high-priority cases.
• Enforcement Measures: Investigations can start via secretary certification or standard channels, targeting violations like wage suppression, improper job displacement, and visa misuse. It aligns with a recent executive order by President Donald Trump requiring a $100,000 fee for H-1B petitions.
• Goals and Impact: As stated by Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, it ensures “highly skilled jobs go to Americans first” by ending abuses that undercut U.S. workers. Critics, however, warn of potential overreach affecting small businesses and innovation.
This initiative reflects the Trump administration’s broader immigration and labor priorities. For unrelated uses of “project firewall” (e.g., open-source software firewalls), the term typically refers to custom network security implementations, but the 2025 launch dominates current references.

There are many remote jobs available in the market, but you have to compete with visa workers who likely hold two or three jobs. Working five days a week from the office just isn’t worth it. Good luck!

Don't know, how many of us here are IT, but when I've heard about new TRUMP fee for indian workers - I started liking my president.
Currently the ratio if indian:non-indian in our IT is 9:1, and the major drawback of that (excepr the reverse discrimination) is knowledge leaking abroad and lower earnings level in the US.
Time and time again I saw indians cominfg in for a year or two, being traned and then replaced by their new "friends" - leading to constant training and losses.
What do you think?

Department of labor now investigating visa abuses.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/us-launches-project-firewall-to-protect-american-workers-in-h-1b-visa-program/ar-AA1MWreB

Here are the reasons why many people are upset with a certain group:

1.  One group takes up more than 70% of the entire H-1B program.
2.  As we all know, some consulting companies abuse the H-1B system because one person can apply multiple times, even if they don’t live in this country.
3.  Cultural issues: Some people only hire others from their own community and don’t really assimilate well.
4.  Quality concerns: Many products from this group are considered low quality.
5.  When the majority of people are having issues with one group, then something must be wrong.
6.  Please reflect on yourselves first—why are so many people from different countries(Canada, Australia, the US, New zealand, even Japan)having the same problems with you?

I can’t wait to see how much MORE Money AT&T will Lose for each H1B Visa replacing American workers. These Executives are highly skilled at Losing Money. 💸

With $100K per H-1B visa, all workers from India, Mexico, and Asia will return to their home country for good. Is this a good thing or is it a bad thing?

The Trump administration has announced a new $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas, in the latest move to crack down on immigration and protect U.S. workers. The move has rattled the tech sector, with top companies urging their employees holding the visa not to leave the U.S.

The impact: India has been the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas, accounting for 71% of the visa holders in the U.S. last year. Most of these visas go to STEM professionals, and outsourcing companies has seen the most H-1B approvals yearly since 2020. News of the H-1B application fee dragged top Indian tech stocks like TCS, Infosys and Wipro lower on Monday

The new $100,000 H-1B fee only applies when a U.S. company files a petition to bring a foreign worker into the United States on an H-1B visa. Ascension Healthcare outsourced IT to offshore workers in India who remain in India, those workers are not on H-1B visas and the fee does not apply. The cost would only come into play if Ascension or its vendor filed a new H-1B petition to bring one of those workers to the U.S.

This has to really impact the company with all the H1-B folks who work here. I wonder if suddenly the PIPs slow down and the company starts to value their local workforce a little more since I would expect the cost of using H1-B went way, way up.

Companies have been abusing the H-1B to replace US workers with lower-wage foreign workers.

People holding a H-1B visa will now feel insecure and are now planning for an exit from the USA. They now have a target on their back from the US government, telling them that they're not welcome.

Companies will now be reluctant to add additional H-1B visas, as it will be financially unfeasible in most cases.

No one can predict when the US government will instate legislation to once again change things around for the H-1B visa, which could be worse.

I have some personal advice for those here with an H-1B visa. Go and find something better either in your home country or another country that welcomes you. This company and country are not worth it.

I'm personally still with this company because I'm old and was hoping to retire with this company. Yes, I was stupid and have now missed the volunteer retirement boat. I thought I would ride it out for a few more years and eventually sign up for a retirement package or just get laid off. The work atmosphere not only su-ks for H-1B visa people, but it just su-ks for everyone. This once company that I was proud to work for has been long gone. I should have moved on long ago but was too lazy to believe what was coming; I was also a strong believer in Pat. I don't blame anyone except myself for not signing up for the volunteer retirement package that Pat offered.

H-1B visa holders, the present is the best time to plan for an exit. This is a chess match where there's no winning.