Reform the H-1B visa, but don't ignore the bigger leak
In 2003, I came to the United States as an H-1B visa holder. Let's be honest about what that meant: I was cheap labor, working here for a year and a half, then moved back to my country.
My 40 years of experince on IT teached me something, cracking down on the H-1B program without addressing offshoring solves nothing — it simply redirects the pressure toward an even cheaper alternative for the employeer.
The evidence is a policy announced just weeks ago. On September 18, 2026, the White House extended its proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions — a wall-sized price on bringing skilled workers to American soil. Whatever one thinks of that policy, it has a fatal blind spot: moving the same job to India, or to a nearshore campus in Mexico, faces no cap and no fee at all. When a $100,000 charge makes the onshore worker unaffordable, the economics tilt overnight toward the offshore one. That loophole is far larger than the 65,000-visa cap it replaces — and it grows with every restriction aimed only at the visa.
The scale is no secret. Every major Indian IT services company operates delivery centers in Mexico, minutes from the border, staffed by workers serving American corporations at a fraction of U.S. wages. Ask how many Cognizant employees alone are dedicated to American clients from India and Mexico — the answer would surprise most taxpayers.
I support efforts to curb H-1B abuse. But reform that plugs a capped, fee-charged hole while ignoring an uncapped, uncharged one is not reform — it is redirection. At minimum, IT services firms should be required to disclose how many client contracts are fulfilled from outside the United States, so that when a company announces "no American jobs lost," the public can check.
¹ I used Kimi, to help organize ideas, correct grammar, and refine the wording of this piece.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Yes we need to and are beginning to turn against outsourcing in the same way we are turning against free trade, but that doesn't mean we should wait for some vague future time when everything aligns just right to stop what is an obvious form of corruption.
This rings a little hollow coming in the same week Don met yet again with the world’s richest men-his buds, the same billionaire/trillionaire tech bro’s who were given front-row seats at his inaugural. The same schlubs who fete him with gold trophies in return for taco tariff relief, regulatory relief, tax relief, whatever they need. This week’s cave was the announcement of the administration’s “self-regulation” regime for AI, leavened with a lil pimping of data centers. That seems a tad more relevant to the tech bro’s in this moment than visa’s…
Don claimed the “self-regulation” regime was “morally binding”. Seriously, of all people, Don has devised a regulatory scheme based on morality to be successful? Let’s hope he has no role in it.
As Chris rightly points out, on the campaign trail Don promised to “put American workers first”. If forced to bet your 7.5% mortgage, would you wager that Don’s dinner conversation with the world’s richest men focused on themselves, or American workers?
Let's be clear. Any abuse is not from the "woke liberals". It is from the all-holy private enterprise that applies for these visas and writes up the justification. Capitalism has its faults.
You mean Human have their faults. In our democratic capitalist states, immigration particularly illegal immigration, asylum seekers and H1B1 visa holders, have replaced the old corruption of segregation. Millions of people that can be exploited by their employers and landlords without the ability to turn to the state, the courts, or unionize for protection.
In authoritarian socialism, there is no need for immigration. The corrupt leaders can just exploit there own people without those people having the ability to turn to the state, the courts or unionize for protection.
Reform the H-1B visa, but don't ignore the bigger leak
In 2003, I came to the United States as an H-1B visa holder. Let's be honest about what that meant: I was cheap labor, working here for a year and a half, then moved back to my country.
My 40 years of experince on IT teached me something, cracking down on the H-1B program without addressing offshoring solves nothing — it simply redirects the pressure toward an even cheaper alternative for the employeer.
The evidence is a policy announced just weeks ago. On September 18, 2026, the White House extended its proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions — a wall-sized price on bringing skilled workers to American soil. Whatever one thinks of that policy, it has a fatal blind spot: moving the same job to India, or to a nearshore campus in Mexico, faces no cap and no fee at all. When a $100,000 charge makes the onshore worker unaffordable, the economics tilt overnight toward the offshore one. That loophole is far larger than the 65,000-visa cap it replaces — and it grows with every restriction aimed only at the visa.
The scale is no secret. Every major Indian IT services company operates delivery centers in Mexico, minutes from the border, staffed by workers serving American corporations at a fraction of U.S. wages. Ask how many Cognizant employees alone are dedicated to American clients from India and Mexico — the answer would surprise most taxpayers.
I support efforts to curb H-1B abuse. But reform that plugs a capped, fee-charged hole while ignoring an uncapped, uncharged one is not reform — it is redirection. At minimum, IT services firms should be required to disclose how many client contracts are fulfilled from outside the United States, so that when a company announces "no American jobs lost," the public can check.
¹ I used Kimi, to help organize ideas, correct grammar, and refine the wording of this piece.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Yes we need to and are beginning to turn against outsourcing in the same way we are turning against free trade, but that doesn't mean we should wait for some vague future time when everything aligns just right to stop what is an obvious form of corruption.
This rings a little hollow coming in the same week Don met yet again with the world’s richest men-his buds, the same billionaire/trillionaire tech bro’s who were given front-row seats at his inaugural. The same schlubs who fete him with gold trophies in return for taco tariff relief, regulatory relief, tax relief, whatever they need. This week’s cave was the announcement of the administration’s “self-regulation” regime for AI, leavened with a lil pimping of data centers. That seems a tad more relevant to the tech bro’s in this moment than visa’s…
Don claimed the “self-regulation” regime was “morally binding”. Seriously, of all people, Don has devised a regulatory scheme based on morality to be successful? Let’s hope he has no role in it.
As Chris rightly points out, on the campaign trail Don promised to “put American workers first”. If forced to bet your 7.5% mortgage, would you wager that Don’s dinner conversation with the world’s richest men focused on themselves, or American workers?
Good luck America.
Let's be clear. Any abuse is not from the "woke liberals". It is from the all-holy private enterprise that applies for these visas and writes up the justification. Capitalism has its faults.
You mean Human have their faults. In our democratic capitalist states, immigration particularly illegal immigration, asylum seekers and H1B1 visa holders, have replaced the old corruption of segregation. Millions of people that can be exploited by their employers and landlords without the ability to turn to the state, the courts, or unionize for protection.
In authoritarian socialism, there is no need for immigration. The corrupt leaders can just exploit there own people without those people having the ability to turn to the state, the courts or unionize for protection.
Yea but Kurt it is the liberal woke techies who use these type visas. So, yea it is liberal woke abusing this mostly.
None of the people using these visa voted for Biden or Harris.
Wrong
How many of the people working with an H1B1 visa do you think voted for Harris or Biden, genius?