Key facts about the U.S. H-1B visa program (PEW Research)
President Donald Trump has ordered a comprehensive review of the H-1B visa program, the primary way that companies in the United States hire high-skilled foreign workers. The multiagency review is expected to result in suggested changes to ensure that the most skilled and highest-paid applicants receive H-1B visas. Though the order may be the first step in an overhaul of the program, only a handful of changes have been made for now to the way H-1B visas are awarded.
Almost 1.8 million H-1B visas have been distributed in fiscal years 2001 through 2015, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data. The program, created by the Immigration Act of 1990, allows employers to hire foreigners to work on a temporary basis in jobs that require highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Visas are awarded to employers on a first-come, first-served basis, with applications accepted each year beginning in April. If the number of applications exceeds an annual cap set by Congress during the first five business days of April, visas are awarded through a lottery system.
Here are some key facts about the current H-1B visa program.
Since 2005, H-1B visas have been capped at 65,000 a year, plus an additional 20,000 visas for foreigners with a graduate degree from a U.S. academic institution. Congress sets the annual cap, which has varied from a low of 65,000 (first set in fiscal 1990) to a high of 195,000 in 2002 and 2003. Currently, employers submit applications and pay between $1,710 and $6,460 in fees for each visa, depending on the employer’s size – a portion of which funds the National Science Foundation and the retraining of American workers through the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/27/key-facts-about-the-u-s-h-1b-visa-program/
Fun fact, the 2010 US Census showed close to 4 million Americans of South Asian heritage: Indian, Pakistani, Bangaldeshi, Sri Lankan. The 2020 census will show a much higher number. The PEW link shows 85,000 H1b visas issued each year, half of which go to citizens of India. If you know someone who thinks they tell who is a US citizen vs who is a on a visa just by looking at them or by their name, that person may often find themselves insisting they are not racist. (They protest too much)
Another fun fact, the 2010 US Census had non-hispanic whites as 63% of our population and decreasing. Americans are not white. South Asians are not on visas.
Promoting the myth that brown people are perpetual foreigners makes someone sound no better than a deplorable Trump supporter. It's the single biggest problem I face in my career.
If you want to reform the H1b and other work visa programs, lobby Congress to lower the caps on new visas issued and shorten the duration of their stay, and of course do something at the company/employer level to make them want to hire US Citizens again. Also try applying for jobs at large IT Services contracting firms. There are many American companies who do this too: IBM, Accenture, DXC, Cognizant, Deloitte. But to get the full experience you should also apply to foreign companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Mahindra, etc. See for yourself the h1b life.
There must be some reason why any company in the US would go through hoops and pay for visas for a foreign worker instead of an American worker. Find out that reason through working alongside h1bs doing the same job and see for yourself.
I share your desire for reform and level the playing field for American workers. But if you could stop encouraging racism against Americans of South Asian heritage, or claiming that we are "less American" or have "less loyalty to America", that would be great.
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consider saying nothing about the workers or the type of people who apply for these visas. Focus on the laws, policies, companies, clients, the financial impact to these companies, and what sort of political activism you are doing to affect change.
Why say anything about the people at all? Even if you came here on the Mayflower there were people already here who felt you should go back where you came from.
There are plenty of Republicans who don't know who is American. We don't need it on our side too. Remember Trump's birther nonsense and his pure unapologetic racism towards an American-born judge of Mexican ancestry?
Here's an idiot who thinks we're all idiots too
Whiteness Is Still a Proxy for Being American
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/07/a-florida-representatives-indian-american-gaffe-is-revealing/375121/
Some of the nonsense people in America deal with on a daily basis from assholes who are totally not racist
This was filmed in Columbus Ohio. Anyone who has ever been to the Midwest has probably never wondered what happened to the people who used to live there. It's not like they were forcibly relocated along a trail of tears and sent to reservations out west.
And these guys show some real Trump ads targeting Indian-Americans to vote for him. Like they said, this would never air on Fox News but they try to have it both ways: Brown people are stealing our jobs, but brown people should vote for Trump because jobs.
4 million Americans of South Asian heritage. Could it be possible that some of the people that DUers assume are on visas may actually be US Citizens or permanent residents (green card)?
My grandparents immigrated in the 1960's because America needed doctors. My parents and I have American accents yet people think I'm stealing jobs away from Americans in our federal government. It's a big problem.
I get that people want to reform the program and it sounds like the Trump administration might do something about it.
I just want to keep racism out of it and stop being treated like a perpetual foreigner in my own country. 
