Let me explain why the number is so much higher for india. They scam the system in several ways. There is a lot here so I’ll try to keep it brief but it might be a lengthy post. 1. There is an entire indian nepotism industry in the tech and IT world. It’s comprised of businesses like IBM, Amazon, Microsoft, Google who have indian hiring managers who only hire indians. A ton of IT shops like Cognizant which are huge companies but also 99% indian (how exactly does that work without discrimination?) Then you have a bunch of small MSPs and IT consulting companies (again all indian workforce.) Next part of the nepotism wheel is the indian recruiters. Indian recruiters work with the indian hiring managers in tech to fill “h1b only” roles. You can find hundreds of these recruiting posts on LinkedIn. I’ll add a thread to the replies so you can see an example. This is of course highly illegal but the DOJ has been asleep at the wheel so nothing happens to these people. They operate both in America and in india. Then you have the indian immigration consultants. These businesses manage and guide the h1b applicant through the process of committing immigration fraud. I’ll explain how this works in the next point. Lastly you have the funnel of indians in india. These are very low skill workers, often very poor, often can barely speak English, totally unable to assimilate. They have fake degrees from a diploma mill in india and they are being sent here by their family to get a job in America and send back remittances. 2. Scamming the H1B lottery system. The way the H1B lottery system works is the company submits an application to USCIS on behalf of the H1B applicant. There is a yearly cap for new H1B approvals (extensions are not included.) The cap is hit every year within a few months usually. So let’s say there is 500,000 H1B applications total but there’s a cap of 85,000/yr. A random lottery is used to select the 85,000 from the 500k. But the 85k is split between 20k with Masters Degrees or higher (this is important to remember), and 65k regular H1Bs. So what the indian immigration consultants (scammers) do is they create dozens of applications for each indian using bullshit companies. Thus drastically increasing the chance that the indian scammer will be selected in the lottery. What this also does is it blocks access to the H1B program from actually talented candidates from Canada and Europe who follow the rules and only submit one application. But that’s not all. Remember the 20k reserved for Masters degrees and up? Well they scam that system too. They use fake degrees from india to land spots in masters programs in America. They have specific masters programs in different schools run by other indians who let them skate through their masters degree. Most of the time they are paying someone back in india to do all the work. Meanwhile they are driving uber etc. Once they have scammed a masters degree, they apply using the same fraudulent method of multiple applications. Thus hording the vast majority of the 20k H1Bs reserved for masters students. 3. C2C & Extensions The most broken part of the H1B Visa system is the extensions. The H1B Visa was designed as a temporary visa. It’s under the same umbrella as other temporary Visas like the temporary farm worker visa (H2-A). It was designed to provide temporary relief for specialty occupations that require a Bachelor’s degree or higher while they work to fill the role with an American. In practice, the system does the opposite. Every H1B is automatically extended. You have H1Bs working here for decades, just filing extension after extension. C2C just stands for corporation to corporation. Basically in order to stay in the country. The indian nepotism wheel ensures that if an H1B wants to leave a company or is let go. They place them in another company which reserves specific roles for H1Bs (again illegal). This is why there are so many H1Bs in the country. 120k+ are approved every year (the 85k cap + exceptions), and the ones that are approved remain in the H1B funnel until they start the process of getting a green card (PERM) 4. PERM Scams You may have seen the recent controversy around the job boards a few tech folks have created to fight back against the H1B scams. What these job boards are is a list of the hidden job postings companies are putting in local newspapers and off the beaten path listings. Why are they hiding job postings in local newspapers and not posting them on their careers page? They already filled the role with an H1B. But in order for an H1B to progress towards a green card they need to fill out what’s called a PERM. A PERM is an application that basically tries to prove that no qualified American candidate can fill the role. To satisfy this obligation the company must publicly advertise the position. If no qualified American candidate applies, the PERM is approved and the H1B progresses towards a green card. There’s more to the process but that’s really all you need to know. What Jobs dot Now and h1bjobsdirect dot com have done is effectively exposed these companies for purposefully hiding their legally mandated job postings. They are abusing the system and discriminating against American candidates. These job boards are so critical in the fight against the H1B fraud because they block the pathway to citizenship. Which is the entire reason these indians scam the H1B program to begin with. I’ll link the boards in the replies below so you can check them out and apply for positions to block the H1Bindians from getting away with defrauding our immigration system. Now you understand why the calls for keeping the H1B system from the tech oligarchs is a crock of shit. The H1B system doesn’t select for the best and brightest. It selects for who is the lowest moral character willing to scam the system while EXCLUDING the best and brightest from Western countries who have high moral character and are following the rules.
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August Takala
@RudyTakala
The H-1B program exists to bring workers specifically from India and China: • 283,397 Indians in 2024 • 46,680 Chinese