Ruckus continues over H-1B visa, how important is the question of salary? Elon Musk gave a big suggestion to the government

US H-1B visa controversy: While a camp in America is spewing venom against immigrants, especially those from India, regarding H-1B visa, America’s newly elected President Donald Trump has once again supported this visa system. Trump, who imposed restrictions on H-1B visas during his/her last presidential term, had recently called this system useful. It is believed that Trump changed his/her viewpoint in view of the pro-visa stance of Tesla owner Elon Musk, who gave major support through money in the elections.
When asked about this change, Trump said before the New Year celebration, ‘I have not changed my stance. I have always believed that our country should have the most capable people. It is necessary for smart people to come to our country. Many such people are needed. There will be opportunities for such jobs here, which never existed before.

Trump may be talking about a lot of job opportunities, but a section of his/her Republican Party is arguing that due to H-1B visa, job opportunities for the American people are decreasing and their salaries are being affected. he/she says that companies bring people at low wages through H-1B visa.

What is the condition of salary?

According to US law, an H-1B visa holder cannot be employed for the same work at a salary lower than the average wage that American people are getting for a particular job in that area. Roughly, less than $60,000 cannot be given annually. However, in areas like New York, if the minimum salary is higher than this, companies pay more to H-1B visa holders. In the year 2023, the average annual salary of H-1B visa holders in computer-related jobs was $ 1,32,000 and the median wage was $ 1,22,000. That means half of such visa holders had a salary of more than $1,22,000.

What are the charges?

Elon Musk, a supporter of this visa system, had also said recently that there are flaws in this system, which can be rectified by increasing the minimum salary for visa holders and increasing the annual maintenance cost of visas because then hiring from abroad will become expensive. At present, companies have to pay a fee of about 35 thousand dollars for the application related to new H-1B visa or extension of the previous visa. If they apply for employee permanent residence, this cost exceeds 50 thousand dollars.

What will be the impact of increasing the cost?

According to US rules, no company can be given more than 2.7% of the total visas issued. Amazon’s share in total visas in FY 2024 was the highest at 2.7%. It was followed by Cognizant 2%, Infosys 1.8%, TCS 1%, IBM 1%, HCL Tech and Microsoft 0.9% and Google 0.7. Among the newly issued visas, Indian companies got only 7299 visas. Indian companies have reduced their use of this visa by 55% as costs have increased by 2000% in the last decade.

Career counselor Mohan Tiwari, who guides students going abroad, said, ‘Increasing the minimum salary will not only benefit the skilled people going to America, but it is also possible that instead of inviting American companies to work in America, they will work in other countries including India. Increase offshoring.