H-1B Visas by the Numbers

The top 7 Indian-based companies received only 9,356 new H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY 2016, a surprising drop of 37 percent between FY 2015 and FY 2016, based on an analysis of government data obtained by the National Foundation for American Policy. The data are significant, since in the past U.S. policymakers have used the number of visas going to Indian-based companies as a political or policy reason to propose new immigration restrictions and to not raise the low annual supply of H1B visas, which has been exhausted every year for the past 15 fiscal years.

H-1B temporary visas are important as they are typically the only practical way a high-skilled foreign national working abroad or an international student educated in the United States can work long-term in America. At U.S. universities, 77 percent of the full-time graduate students in electrical engineering and 71 percent in computer science are international students. In today’s global economy, companies and high-skilled professionals possess many options. The United States should maintain an openness toward high-skilled immigration or those options likely will not be in America.

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