Tech Giants Secure Work Visas for Tens of Thousands of Foreigners While Kicking Existing Employees to the Curb

U.S. tech giants have been sacking employees in droves while simultaneously importing tens of thousands of foreign workers.

Amazon, Google and Microsoft have laid off at least 27,000, 12,000 and 16,000 employees, respectively, since 2022. However, in that same roughly three-year period, the companies have secured at least 61,000 H-1B visas combined for foreign workers, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

“At the same time large tech companies are laying people off they are claiming they don’t have sufficient workers,” Eric Ruark, director of research and public relations for NumbersUSA, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The H-1B program is designed specifically to allow employers to replace and displace qualified American workers with cheaper, often less competent foreign guest workers.”

The U.S. H-1B program allows businesses to employ skilled foreign workers with bachelor’s degrees for up to six years, with H-1B holders eligible to apply for permanent residence, and ultimately citizenship.

In theory, the visas are “need-based,” meaning they are only meant to be given when there is a demonstrated need that cannot be readily filled by the American workforce, however, U.S. census data shows that of the 50 million employed college graduates between ages 25 and 64 in 2019, just 28% of those who reported a bachelor’s degree in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) actually work in a STEM occupation. Moreover, a November 2014 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that one additional H-1B visa recipient crowds out about 1.5 other workers at a firm, and that additional H-1Bs are not associated with higher numbers of patent approvals, suggesting H-1B workers may not increase innovation.

Together, the census and NBER study findings could suggest tech giants import talent from abroad not because of a lack of domestic talent, but rather because of other considerations like wages and employee retention.

Historically, employers have paid H-1B workers well below market wages, with a 2020 study from the Economic Policy Institute finding that, in fiscal year 2019, 60% of H-1B positions certified by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) had been assigned salaries below the local median wage for their occupation. {snip}

In addition to lower wages, corporations may also prefer H-1B workers because they are often easier to retain, according to Ruark: “It’s not just lower wages that make H-1B workers attractive. H-1B recipients have to work for the employer who petitioned for them. They can’t just walk across the street to a competitor. If they lose their job they lose their visa.”

H-1B workers must work for the company that sponsored their visa, meaning in order to work for another employer they have to get another H-1B petition approved. As a result, H-1B workers have less mobility than their U.S. counterparts and are easier for businesses to retain, which can make them an attractive option for employers.

The visa program has come under fire in the past due to alleged abuse by employers, with the DOL launching an investigation into Disney in 2015 following reports the company fired hundreds of tech workers and forced them to train their foreign replacements. One of the former Disney employees called to testify in the trial told the court that “the situation at Disney is not an anomaly” and that “this same abuse of the H-1B program is happening nationwide.

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Indian nationals received more than 72% of U.S. H-1B visas in fiscal year 2022, with Chinese nationals representing the next largest share at 12.5%, according to The Times of India.

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