Musk, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-chief Vivek Ramaswamy, and other leaders in the tech sector, have advocated the expanding of the H-1B programme to hire more skilled workers from different parts of the world. Many Republicans, on the other hand, want American jobs to go to American workers first, and argue for curbs on immigration.

Over the past few years, Indians have been the majority of H-1B visa holders. Here’s how the programme did under Trump’s last term.

What is the H-1B visa program?

The programme allows American employers to hire non-immigrant workers in specialty occupations that require a high level of skills and at least a bachelor’s degree, according to the US Department of Labour.

“The intent of the H-1B provisions is to help employers who cannot otherwise obtain needed business skills and abilities from the US workforce by authorising the temporary employment of qualified individuals who are not otherwise authorised to work in the United States,” the department says.

The US government has capped the total number of new H-1B visas at 65,000 each financial year. Another 20,000 visas can be given to those who have obtained a Master’s degree or higher from a US institution. H-1B workers employed at higher education institutions, non-profits or government research organisations are not covered by the cap.

How many Indians use the H-1B program?

US government data shows that Indians have been the majority of H-1B visa-holders in the past few years. In the fiscal year 2023, Indians accounted for 72.3% (2.79 lakh) of the total (3.86 lakh) H-1B approvals, according to a US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) report in March this year. Chinese workers were a distant second, receiving 11.7% of the total H-1B visas approved in 2023.

Computer-related occupations accounted for 65% of all H-1B visas in 2023, followed by architecture, engineering and surveying (9.5%) and education (6%). The median annual compensation for H-1B visa holders in 2023 was $118,000, the report said.

How has the number of H-1Bs approved changed over the years?

According to a report by the American Immigration Council on October 8, the number of H-1B visa holders declined in 2020 due to the Covid-19 restrictions.

“The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Homeland Security Statistics reports that the number of H-1B recipients who were admitted into the country rose from 570,368 in FY 2018 to 601,594 in FY 2019 and then dropped to 368,440 in FY 2020.

The restrictions imposed by Trump on the recipients of nonimmigrant work visas such as the H-1B expired in March 2021 and were not renewed by the Biden administration. However, admissions in H-1B status continued to drop to a low of 148,603 in FY 2021, due in large part to the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” it said.

The number of admissions increased in 2022, to 4.10 lakh and then further to 7.55 lakh in 2023. The report found that the denial rate of H-1B applications increased during the Trump administration’s term, from 6% in 2016 to 24% in 2018, before reducing again to 21% in 2019, 13% in 2020 and 4% in 2021. This, the report said, was due to the increasing number of denials being overturned upon challenging. In 2022, the denial rate was down to 2%, it said.