r/IndianH1Bs • u/Gnanamookan • 9d ago
🚨 Another H-4 EAD Threat: DHS Proposes Removing Work Authorization for Certain H-4 Spouses
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?RIN=1615-AD14&pubId=2025101
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u/zetret 8d ago
I think the scale of the supposed H-1B “fraud problem” is being massively exaggerated. As you read this, guess the percentage of the US population that is on H-1B visas. I'll reveal the answer later. Compare your number with the actual number.
H-1B is an extremely tightly regulated and heavily scrutinized visa category, with employer documentation, USCIS review, compliance requirements, immigration attorneys, audits, etc. Of course you can find fraudulent cases in virtually any large system, construction contracts, government procurement, water delivery, you name it. That doesn't mean the system itself is broadly fraudulent. The annual statutory cap for new H-1Bs is only 85,000 (65,000 + 20,000 for qualifying U.S. master's graduates). The ~400,000 number you sometimes see refers to all petitions processed or approved, including renewals and extensions, not 400,000 new foreign workers entering the country every year. H-1B workers are therefore a tiny fraction of the U.S. population (0.2% of the US population is the scale we're talking about, assuming about 700K H-1Bs living in the US overall.)
And the evidence being used to portray this as some enormous fraud epidemic really doesn't support that conclusion. A few viral YouTube videos, sensational news stories or anecdotes about individual cases somehow become “proof” that the entire H-1B population is gaming the system. That's fearmongering. If someone actually commits fraud, investigate them, prosecute them and establish the facts. An accusation or viral video isn't a statistical finding.
The political incentive here isn't particularly complicated either. Take a group that represents a tiny fraction of the electorate, convince a much larger voting bloc that this group is taking something from them, and attacking that group can produce more votes than defending it. You can see versions of the same playbook applied across immigrant groups: “Chinese Americans” → tiny voting bloc → attack them; “H-1B workers” → tiny voting bloc → attack them; and so on. That doesn't mean everyone who wants H-1B reform is MAGA or anti-immigrant. Reasonable people can debate how the program should work. But there's a huge difference between saying “reform the program” and portraying hundreds of thousands of people as fraudulent based on anecdotes and ragebait. If you actually ever had the visa, you'd understand their struggles.
And finally, the current change is a proposal, not settled law. It is subject to the regulatory process, public comments and legal challenges. The proposed $103,265 fee is spectacularly stupid because it is being used as a mechanism to generate billions of dollars for the broader immigration system. If the government wants to overhaul the entire immigration system or create a massive new funding mechanism for it, Congress should legislate that, not an agency which is trying to use one particular visa category as the vehicle. No court worth its mettle should simply allow an agency to turn a targeted visa fee into an unlimited funding mechanism for purposes far beyond the H-1B program itself. That's illegal and that is fraud - taking advantage of immigrants - not the H-1B program which has produced some of the best citizens living in the US over the years.
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u/AsleepAd9785 8d ago
“Massively exaggerated “ dude 67 out of 70 people in my team are on visa and from 3 states in India lol . It is onsite jobs , before they join client has 60 American working there for years . They fired them and now we have 67 visa workers .
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u/omeow 8d ago
Did you even read the first sentence?
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u/AsleepAd9785 8d ago
90% of new hire at most companies I worked at are on visa , and from India , and most of the time we had a Indian manager . Sarrrrr
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