Vivek Ramaswamy Wants To End H-1B Visa Programme While He Used It 29 Times

2024 Republican presidential hopeful and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has vowed to ¡°gut¡± the system for H-1B temporary worker visas if he wins the White House. Ramaswamy has called the program, which issues temporary visas for high-skilled foreign workers in specialized industries, a form of ¡°indentured servitude.¡±

Reuters

Used it 29 times himself

But, it¡¯s the very system he¡¯s used in the past to hire high-skilled foreign workers for the pharma company that built much of his wealth.

From 2018 through 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved 29 applications for Ramaswamy¡¯s former company, Roivant Sciences, to hire employees under H-1B visas, which allow U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in tech and other specialized jobs.

In an interview on ¡°Fox News Sunday,¡± Ramaswamy said he ¡°played within the rules that have been given to us by the government,¡± and said if elected, he would reform the program.

¡°I believe the energy system in this country and energy regulation needs drastic reform too. But I still use water and electricity and turn on the lights,¡± Ramaswamy said. ¡°So the fact of the matter is, I have an understanding of the regulatory apparatus because I have dealt with it as a CEO and an entrepreneur who has built multiple companies.¡±

Freepik

Replace it with ¡°meritocratic admission¡±

Ramaswamy criticized the program¡¯s random selection process. Applications for H1-B visas far outnumber the available slots by hundreds of thousands. Instead, Ramaswamy said he would replace the program with ¡°meritocratic admission.¡±

¡°Why on earth would you use a lottery when you could just use meritocratic admission instead? Restore merit,¡± Ramaswamy said. ¡°We have to gut that system, restore meritocratic immigration, which is skills, not just tech skills, but all kinds of skills to match what we need in this country.¡±

epa

H1B visa woes in India

The H-1B visa, the much-sought-after among Indian IT professionals, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

Every year, the US gives 65,000 H-1B visas which are open to all and 20,000 to those with advanced US degrees. Since, many applicants come from India and China, currently their is a huge backlog.

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