H-1B Visas Could Be Dramatically Slashed Under New Bill
Source: Newsweek
Published Apr 23, 2026 at 08:06 AM EDT updated Apr 23, 2026 at 09:32 AM EDT
Republican Representative Eli Crane has introduced a bill to pause the issuance of new H-1B visas for three years and implement significant changes thereafter.
H-1B visas allow employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations such as health care, engineering, and tech roles, and require at least a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience. The visas have come under scrutiny during President Donald Trump's administration, as conservatives have sought to overhaul the process amid concerns that employers are replacing American workers with foreign nationals.
What Has Crane Proposed?
Crane's proposals include the following:
Reduce the annual H-1B visa cap from 65,000 to 25,000 Replace the lottery system with a wage-based selection system Require employers to prove they cannot find qualified Americans and have not conducted layoffs Set a minimum H-1B wage of $200,000 per year Bar H-1B workers from holding multiple jobs Stop H-1B workers from bringing their dependents to the United States
Crane's proposal, which was co-sponsored by seven other Republican representatives, would need to be passed by the U.S. House and Senate to be implemented.
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/h-1b-visa-could-be-dramatically-slashed-under-new-bill-eli-crane-immigration-11867961
bucolic_frolic
(55,480 posts)Who would want to come here? I guess that's the whole idea.
Didn't they approve a clause to deport smart people yet?
highplainsdem
(62,676 posts)Permanut
(8,478 posts)fujiyamasan
(1,921 posts)Anyone working in the industry or watching the decimation of SaaS stocks knows its not an easy time
Its different for medicine though where there are underserved areas and people without access. The H1Bs in this case are serving a specific societal need.
They could reallocate the number more toward those in the medical field.
Bluejeans
(158 posts)I responded to a Monster.com ad in 2003 for an "experienced project manager with IT" for a local firm claiming it did "Oracle development". Since I managed IT projects since 1986, had my project management professional certification and a master's degree in management specializing in project management, I applied for the job. When I went to the in-person interview, it was very obvious this place was not normal. Everyone except the person who interviewed me spoke only in Hindi and that person was bi-lingual with a strong Hindi accent.
I never got called back for a second interview or offered a job; it was obviously a pretend interview to justify yet another H1B visa holder based on a claim of no available and qualified American workers.
A year later I worked on a government contract with numerous people from Oracle corporation including one senior manager. None of them had ever heard of that firm. Go figure.
FakeNoose
(42,015 posts)... Don't forget that 2003 was when we were launching the war in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War II was already in full-swing. So who knows? It could have been spies working behind a false-front tech firm. I think that could have happened more often in those days.
fujiyamasan
(1,921 posts)Most of these were just a bunch of scammers from India trying to take advantage of how lax it was then. H1Bs werent as hard to get sponsored for back then.
These firms would usually be owned by an American (green card holder or citizen). These consulting firms would then overbid and underdeliver on IT and engineering projects. It mostly consolidated into the larger WITCH (acronym of several large Indian companies), which are bad enough, but the quality then was arguably even worse with these smaller companies.
GenThePerservering
(3,540 posts)to take my job.