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H-1B Visa Row: A Century-Long Struggle Over Foreign Labor in the U.S.

Republicans are split over expanding H-1B visas. Big Tech advocates for more foreign talent, while labor unions oppose. Tensions have existed for decades over foreign labor in the U.S.

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H-1B Visa Row: A Century-Long Struggle Over Foreign Labor in the U.S.

The debate over the number of H-1B visas, which allow foreign professionals to work legally in the U.S., is causing a rift within the Republican Party. As of now, around 600,000 foreign workers hold H-1B visas in sectors like tech, academia, and healthcare.

Those advocates include key figures such as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, informal advisers to President-elect Donald Trump. In contrast, the H-1B program’s detractors range from Steve Bannon to Laura Loomer and describe the scheme as a “scam” that takes American jobs and supports illegal immigration.

Up until now, Trump has sided with Musk and Ramaswamy, but this division within the GOP is only expected to grow.

The debate on foreign workers traces its roots back to the late 19th century when Congress passed laws that limited labor migration in response to pressure from American workers. It all came together in the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924, imposing national origin quotas and leading employers to lobby for exceptions, such as temporary work visas for foreign labor.

The Bracero program ran from 1942 to 1964 and provided work opportunities in the United States for nearly 4 million Mexican men, as farmworkers on short-term contracts. In 1952, the H-2 visa was established as a replacement for the Bracero program and is since the primary focal point of debate on handling foreign labor. The most notable is that concerning the tech industry, in relation to the H-1B visa.

It was in the 1930s that American businesses, such as Ford Motor Co., sought the go-ahead to hire foreign workers. As a result, the Musicians Immigration Clarification Act of 1932 was passed, in which visas were limited only to artists of “distinguished merit and ability.” The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Hollywood also requested exemptions to hire foreign talent, including the famous Charlie Chaplin.

The H-1B visa program was developed step by step; it borrowed from earlier programs their “distinguished merit and ability” standard. In 1952, the Congress established H-1 for foreign professionals from fields such as sports, arts, and science. However, the visa, at first, was only limited to one year, and could only be utilized by those that had global repute.

The rules for obtaining an H-1B visa relaxed in the 1970s when merely holding a baccalaureate degree established “distinguished merit.” When the “specialty occupation” requirement was further defined, changes in the program enabled more foreign workers to immigrate to the U.S. for a variety of jobs than before.

Compromise was struck by Congress in 1990, allowing employers to bypass the need to apply to recruit Americans first, but capped at that time the annual numbers of visas issued at 65,000 and set a minimum wage for H-1B workers. This compromise has been adjusted since its original form to try to feed both sides’ concerns: labor unions and business groups.

Increasing in number after the turn of the century, H-1B visa holders increasingly came to encroach on Big Tech, causing increasing tension especially among them. While unions and other groups called for tighter controls, the Obama and the Trump administration enforced limits on foreign labor contractors. These limits were frequently litigated, where trade associations representing IT companies won partial victories.

In December 2024, the Biden Administration rolled out its new rules almost entirely retaining the status quo system with slight variations. It seems likely that at some point down the line Congress will revisit H-1B visa program probably raising the caps on visas in place of creating more stringent conditions.

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