'Cheaper and controllable': Indian-origin scholar breaks down why H-1B abuse persists in US

Indian-origin Howard University professor and long-time H-1B critic Ronil Hira has weighed in on the latest flare-up surrounding America’s most contentious work visa, calling it “a no-brainer” why US companies overwhelmingly prefer hiring H-1B workers. His comments come at a time when the political messaging around the visa is turning increasingly confusing for both industry and voters.

The renewed controversy was sparked after President Donald Trump, in a recent FOX interview, appeared unexpectedly soft on the H-1B programme, saying the US “needs certain types of foreign talent.” This came just weeks after his administration imposed a staggering $100,000 visa fee for any company hiring an H-1B worker — one of the strongest punitive measures ever taken against the programme. The contrasting signals have left sections of the MAGA base puzzled.

'Cheaper labor'

Hira said the reason American companies favor H-1B workers is simple: they can legally pay them less and exercise far greater control over them compared to American employees.

Citing high-profile cases involving Disney and the University of California, Hira said there have been repeated, well-documented incidents where American workers were forced to train their own H-1B replacements — evidence, he argues, that many H-1B hires are not actually “high-skilled.”

“Most of the people coming to the US on H-1B visas have ordinary skills — skills that are abundantly available from American workers,” he said. “But employers prefer H-1B workers because they can legally be paid less and because they are controllable, as they are indentured to their employers.”

Calling it “a no-brainer,” Hira said the real challenge is to reform the programme so that it genuinely targets skill shortages. “On the other side, there are some very highly qualified people who come on H-1Bs, and so the real issue is how do you fix the program so that most of the people coming in are actually filling genuine skill gaps and not coming in because they are cheaper and controllable.”

A labor policy, not an immigration issue

Hira also emphasised a distinction often lost in the public debate: H-1B is fundamentally a labour market policy, not an immigration policy.

“H-1B is a guest worker program. You are intervening in the labour market, injecting workers here,” he said. “You should have a high bar to inject workers who have fewer rights, who are sort of second-class in a lot of ways, and whose worker protections are very weak.”

According to Hira, this structural weakness explains why Silicon Valley continues to champion the program. “Any guest worker program needs very strong worker protection. H-1B has very weak worker protection, and that’s why Silicon Valley loves it,” he said.