Indian-American Republican presidential aspirant Vivek Ramaswamy has made a bold promise to overhaul the H-1B visa program if he becomes the President of the United States in 2024. He referred to the H-1B visa system as “indentured servitude” and declared his intent to replace the lottery-based system with a more effective meritocratic admission process.
Ramaswamy’s remarks come at a time when millions of Indians are facing challenges in obtaining US work visas due to lengthy waiting times and a backlog of applications.
Speaking to Politico, Ramaswamy criticized the current H-1B system, stating that it is detrimental to all parties involved. He argued that the lottery system needs to be replaced with a meritocratic admission process. He described the existing system as a form of indentured servitude that primarily benefits the sponsoring companies while failing to provide a fair and effective immigration process.
“The lottery system needs to be replaced by actual meritocratic admission. It’s a form of indentured servitude that only accrues to the benefit of the company that sponsored an H-1B immigrant. I’ll gut it,” Ramaswamy emphasized.
In addition to revamping the H-1B visa program, Ramaswamy also expressed his desire to eliminate chain-based migration. He argued that family members who come through chain migration are not the same as merit-based immigrants who make valuable contributions to the country through their skills and expertise.
Notably, Ramaswamy has personally used the H-1B visa program on 29 occasions. From 2018 through 2023, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services approved 29 applications from Ramaswamy’s former company, Roivant Sciences, to hire employees under H-1B visas.
The H-1B visa program is highly sought after by Indian IT professionals and is utilized by US companies to employ foreign workers in specialized occupations that require technical or theoretical expertise. Technology companies, in particular, rely on the H-1B program to hire a significant number of employees from countries like India and China.
Currently, the US issues 65,000 H-1B visas each year, which are open to applicants from around the world, and an additional 20,000 visas for those with advanced US degrees. Due to the large number of applicants, especially from India and China, there is a substantial backlog, leading to extended waiting times for many aspiring immigrants.
Ramaswamy’s pledge to reform the H-1B visa program adds a significant dimension to the ongoing discussions about immigration policies in the United States, particularly as it relates to skilled foreign workers and the tech industry.
