Every debate over the H-1B visa program seems to follow the same script. Employers insist they cannot find enough qualified American workers. Industry lobbyists argue the program is essential to attract the world's brightest talent. Critics point to Americans who have been laid off and replaced by H-1B workers. Both sides then call for “reforming” a program they describe as broken.
But much of the public discussion rests on myths that have been repeated for so long they are accepted as fact. The reality is that many of the most common claims about H-1B simply are not true.
Myth No. 1: H-1B Exists to Fill Labor Shortages
Reality: The H-1B program is designed to replace Americans with foreign workers.
Congress made it explicitly legal to replace Americans with H-1B nonimmigrants. A program that legally permits replacing available American workers cannot honestly be described as a labor-shortage program.
There is no shortage or market test of any kind in H-1B. In fact, when Congress created the H-1B program in 1990 it eliminated the labor-shortage requirement that existed under its predecessor.
The largest occupational group receiving H-1B visas is computer occupations. The U.S. imports more H-1B workers in computer occupations than there are jobs created in such occupations.
Myth No. 2: Employers Must Prove No Qualified American Is Available
Reality: No employer is required to prove Americans are not available before importing H-1B nonimmigrants.
The closest requirement is that a handful of employers are required to certify they recruited Americans by checking a box, and this requirement only applies under a combination of circumstances that rarely occur.
Such a requirement would be inconsistent with Congress making it explicitly legal to replace Americans with H-1B nonimmigrants.
Myth No. 3: H-1B Is a Program for the World's Best and Brightest
Reality: If the goal were to recruit exceptional talent from around the world, the program would probably look very different.
Nearly all H-1B workers come from one country: India. Most Indian H-1B workers come from just two states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Nor does the program prioritize extraordinary ability. Congress requires petitions to be processed largely in the order they are filed. Employers themselves classify 82 percent of H-1B workers at the Department of Labor's two lowest wage levels — 31 percent as entry-level and another 51 percent as qualified workers. Only about 18 percent are paid at levels that indicate above-average experience or expertise.
The H-1B program rewards the greatest volume of applications and speed, not exceptional talent.
Myth No. 4: America Needs H-1B Because Our Students Cannot Compete
Reality: The evidence says otherwise.
Supporters frequently argue that American schools are failing to produce enough STEM graduates while countries such as India are producing better-trained workers.
But international assessments tell a different story. India's students performed near the bottom when the country participated in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. In addition, an international study published by the National Academies of Sciences found that American computer science students outperformed students from India and China. The average American student scored higher than students attending elite institutions in those countries.
The problem is not that American graduates lack ability. It is that many employers can hire foreign workers at lower wages.
Myth No. 5: H-1B Workers Are Paid the Prevailing Wage
Reality: The law says employers must pay at least the prevailing wage for the occupation and location. Yet the H-1B system is designed to allow employers to ignore this requirement with impunity.
Employers may determine the prevailing wage themselves rather than use the Department of Labor's published wage data. Federal law requires the Department of Labor to certify Labor Condition Applications within seven days and generally prohibits the agency from verifying employers' wage claims before approval.
The result is predictable. In 2024, over 90 percent of employer-submitted prevailing wage claims for approved H-1B visas were below the Bureau of Labor Statistics' prevailing wage for the occupation and location.
Newly available USCIS data show that H-1B workers are typically paid substantially less than comparable American workers in the same occupation and metropolitan area.
Myth No. 6: H-1B Is for Highly Skilled Workers
Reality: The only occupation that requires H-1B nonimmigrants to be highly skilled is fashion models. For others, a four-year degree is all that is required.
Under the Department of Labor’s four-tier, skill-based prevailing wage, employers classify 31 percent of H-1B workers as entry level and 51 percent as qualified, the two lowest skill levels. Employers even classify H-1B nonimmigrants in their 50s and 60s as “entry level”.
Myth No. 7: Only 65,000 H-1B Visas Are Issued Each Year
Reality: The often-cited 65,000 cap is only part of the story.
Congress created an additional 20,000 visas for graduates of U.S. universities. Universities and many nonprofit research institutions are exempt from numerical limits altogether.
As a result, the government approved approximately 141,000 new H-1B workers in FY 2024 — more than double the statutory cap most people hear about because many visas are exempt from the quotas.
The largest H-1B job classification, by far, is computer occupations, where the number of H-1B nonimmigrants exceeds job creation. Supporters try to hide this flood of foreign workers by making the apples-to-orange comparison of H-1B numbers to the entire labor market.
Myth No. 8: There Is a $60,000 Minimum Salary for H-1B Visas
Reality: This is a complete fiction. No such requirement exists.
Over 2,000 H-1B visas were approved in 2024 with wages below $60,000.
Myth No. 9: The Department of Labor Sets the Minimum Wage for H-1B Workers
Reality: The employer determines the prevailing wage for H-1B employees.
The Department of Labor is required to certify whatever the employer claims is the prevailing wage within seven days and is prohibited from checking the accuracy of the claim, even after approval.
Some 90 percent of employer prevailing wage claims in 2024 were less than the actual prevailing wage for the occupation and location reported by the BLS.
The employer can request a prevailing wage determination from the Department of Labor, but this rarely happens.
Myth No. 10: H-1B Wages Are Comparable to U.S. Wages
Reality: Overall, H-1B wages are nowhere close to U.S. wages for the same occupation and location as the law ostensibly requires.
Only wages for H-1B workers from a handful of countries, particularly in Northern Europe, Australia, and Canada are comparable to U.S. wages and often exceed U.S. wages. These represent less than 5 percent of the visas.
The countries with wages comparable to U.S. wages are more than offset by wages paid to H-1B workers from India, who collectively have absurdly low wages and make up nearly all H-1B visas.
Myth No. 11: The H-1B Program Is Broken
Reality: This is the biggest myth of all.
A broken program is one that fails to achieve its intended purpose.
But Congress deliberately eliminated the labor-shortage requirement. Congress chose not to require employers to recruit Americans first. Congress created a Labor Condition Application system that relies largely on employer self-certification. Congress has known for decades that American workers have been replaced by H 1B employees, yet it has never prohibited the practice broadly.
Congress has known for decades that employers have been replacing Americans with H-1B nonimmigrants. Congress’s response to this abusive behavior was to make the practice explicitly legal. No one should be surprised at an employer that lays off thousands of Americans while hiring thousands of H-1B nonimmigrants.
The H-1B program is producing exactly the outcomes its structure encourages: employers gain access to a large pool of lower-cost foreign labor while facing few obligations to recruit American workers first or verify wage claims independently.
If policy-makers truly want an H-1B program focused on exceptional talent, they should redesign it accordingly. That means requiring meaningful recruitment of American workers, independently verifying prevailing wages, prioritizing genuinely exceptional applicants rather than first-filed petitions, and prohibiting employers from replacing American workers with H-1B employees.
Until then, the public should stop asking why H-1B is broken because H-1B works exactly as Congress intended it to work.