 "Is US looking to scrap the H-1B visa entirely? What's the new law being proposed?")
Last month, the US administration under Donald Trump hit India hard, with a shot aimed at Indian talent in the US through H-1B visas. Trump’s decision to hike H-1B visa fees to $100,000 resulted in panic, confusion and a hasty White House climbdown.
A month after the crackdown, there is a shift in the tone. Trump has shifted his stance, insisting that the US needs ‘global talent.’
“You don’t have certain talents. You can’t take people off an unemployment line and say. We’re going to put you into a factory, we’re going to make missiles,” the Republican leader told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham.
Meanwhile, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican leader and Congresswoman, has stated that she would like if the US administration eliminated the H-1B visa programme and has proposed a bill on the same.
So, what’s the new law being proposed? Does it include any exemptions? Is Trump making a stunning reversal on the H-1B visa?
Let’s understand the different aspects of it.
The proposed bill to abolish H-1B visas, explained
Republican Party’s Marjorie Taylor Greene has said that she is introducing a bill to end what she calls “the mass replacement of American workers by aggressively phasing out the H-1B programme”.
“My dear fellow Americans, I’m introducing a bill to eliminate the H-1B visa programme, which has been riddled with fraud and abuse and has been displacing American workers for decades,” she said in a video posted on X.
🚨I am introducing a bill to END the mass replacement of American workers by aggressively phasing out the H1B program.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) November 13, 2025
Big Tech, AI giants, hospitals, and industries across the board have abused the H-1B system to cut out our own people.
Americans are the most talented people… pic.twitter.com/m73Wp1MMiw
Greene attempts to bring in legislation that would eliminate the H-1B visa programme, which is considered a pathway to US citizenship for foreign workers.
The Congresswoman even went on to accuse US tech giants of abusing the programme system to undermine the benefits for American workers.
“Big Tech, AI giants, hospitals, and industries across the board have abused the H-1B system to cut out our own people,” Greene asserted.
Greene addressed a single exemption in her video, which is a yearly cap of 10,000 visas reserved for medical professionals such as doctors and nurses. They provide life-saving care in the United States.
However, there is a catch in the exemption; she added that even this limited exemption would not be permanent.
She added, “This 10,000-per-year cap will be phased out over 10 years to allow us time to build our own pipeline of American doctors and physicians.”
Greene furthered that “The bill will take away the pathway to citizenship, forcing visa holders to return home when their visa expires."
According to her, the bill aims to prioritise American workers in various sectors such as technology, healthcare, engineering, and manufacturing, stating, “Americans are the most talented people in the world,” and that she will always put “Americans first.”
She also pointed to last year’s data, asserting that “more than 9,000 US medical graduates did not secure residency placements, meanwhile, 2023 alone, over 5,000 foreign-born doctors received residency spots.”
Greene declared it “entirely unfair, and it’s America last.”
Significance of H-1B visas for Indians
Indian professionals, who are the biggest beneficiaries of this work visa, will be drastically affected if this bill is implemented.
According to a country-wise breakdown of H-1B visa allocations for 2024 from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Indians overwhelmingly dominated the list.
The tech giants used this programme to import talent, more than 70 per cent of whom are Indian.
Among the top H-1B employers are top US firms, including Amazon, Meta and Google.
Satya Nadella, the chairman and chief executive of Microsoft, and Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, are prominent US tech leaders who were once holders of H-1B visas.
The number of Indian nationals is 283,397, whereas China 46,680 accounted for approximately 11.7 per cent to 16 per cent.
Both India and China make up roughly 84 per cent of all H-1B visa allocations.
Trump shifts his tone
Greene’s proposal of a bill comes as the United States President Donald Trump has made a stunning reversal on the H-1B programme during a Fox News interview.
Trump admitted that the US does not have enough domestic talent for certain positions in tech and defence.
When asked about the H-1B visa programme, he noted with fear that it could undermine American workers
Trump said, “I agree, but you do also have to bring in talent.”
The US president even went on to deny that the US has plenty of “talented workers”, when interjected by Fox News’s Laura Ingraham.
“You don’t have certain talents. People have to learn. You can’t take people off an unemployment line and say, ‘I’m going to put you into a factory where we’re going to make missiles,” the Republican leader added.
If the bill is introduced, then it will add more concern regarding the future of the H-1B programme.
With inputs from agencies
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