Wrong, Mr Ramaswamy

Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican Party aspirant for US presidential election, has targeted the H-1B visa system. It’s the most popular temporary work visa to the US, sponsored by US employers. Ramaswamy says H-1B is “indentured servitude” and benefits only companies sponsoring work visas. He also criticised lotteries used to pick applicants under H-1B and added that family members who accompany employees are not meritocratic immigrants. Ramaswamy’s views deserve attention as Indians dominate H-1B. Moreover, his criticism encapsulates populist tropes that ignore economic reality.

H-1B is a little over three decades old and is used to meet skill shortages in the US in specialty occupations. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services annual report of 2022 said Indians accounted for 73% of 4.42 lakh H-1B petitions approved in 2022. That’s because around 66% of H-1B visas were for computer-related occupations. As a percentage of US GDP, the value added of computer systems design and related services subsectors more than tripled between 1990, when H-1B was created, and 2020.

The median income in 2022 of H-1B visa holders was $118,000, a level far above the US median income. So, this ain’t “indentured servitude”. In fact, it’s the H-1B cap that’s the problem. The limit results in US employers routinely asking for more visas than the cap allows. The US government’s solution is to use a lottery to allocate visas. This is licence-permit-quota raj with American characteristics. A sensible solution is to do away with the cap as H-IB visa workers go to sectors with a skills shortage. This visa category has benefitted both the US as well as Indian skilled workers, who are not unique in wanting to bring their families over. The takeaway here is that political populism’s approach of “gut it” helps no one.

END OF ARTICLE