TechServe Alliance’s Government Affairs Team is on top of an important issue and more . . .
Over the past four years, Congress has been mostly silent on employment-based, non-immigrant H-1B visa reform. Instead, the Biden Administration focused on regulations, including successful reforms to the H-1B visa lottery program that TechServe endorsed, a hefty fee increase that TechServe opposed, and the new rule effective January 17, 2025, modernizing the H-1B visa program. The 2025 Rule includes some helpful updates and some “it-remains-to-be-seen” changes; more to follow about the new Rule.
Since December 2024, H-1B visas have been in the news quite a bit; Republicans and Democrats have, in a bipartisan way, expressed both opposition and support. The President-Elect Trump has endorsed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s support for the H-1B visa program, stating he would “hand out green cards” to foreign national STEM graduates to encourage them to stay in the U.S., a significant turn-around from his position during his first administration. Now, we are hearing strong internal dissent within the new administration.
At the same time, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is among many Democrats who agree with some of Trump’s hardline official and unofficial policy advisors, including Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, that the H-1B visa program’s sole purpose is to bring in high-tech workers to displace U.S. employees and then pay them low salaries. House Democrat Ro Khanna (D-CA), representing the Silicon Valley area, seems to agree with them and has vowed to pass the perpetually introduced “H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act,” which targets third-party placements of H-1Bs and would put staffing firms at a competitive disadvantage.
We understand that immigration reform will initially focus on the border. However, given the recent debate between and within the same parties, we plan to actively engage the 119th Congress and the new Administration on H-1B visas given technical talent will continue to be in short supply in the future.
What will we do, and what can you do?
The recent debates show that it’s very important that TechServe members engage: to introduce themselves to their elected officials, explain the IT/engineering staffing industry business model, talk about their contributions to the local economy, and document why we need to continue to augment domestic talent with foreign talent in high demand skill sets in order to keep IT work in the U.S.
While immigration reform has grabbed the spotlight, another critical issue that requires our input will soon come up: the pass-through tax deduction championed by TechServe for the staffing industry expires this year.
Our Government Affairs Team is planning effective ways for you to get involved. In the meantime, please contact us with your input or if you have questions or concerns.
More information:
The Hill, “Sanders Calls for H-1B Visa Reform: Elon Musk is Wrong,” January 2, 2025
Newsweek, “Bernie Sides with MAGA on H-1B Debate,” January 3, 2025
Fox News, “Bernie Sanders hits out at H-1B visa program for replacing American jobs with ‘indentured servants’,” January 4, 2025
