In a significant development for the H-1B visa programme, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has confirmed that it identified approximately 100 cases of H-1B petitions filed between Fiscal Years 2021 and 2024 where the job titles referenced “diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion,” or similar DEI-related terms.

USCIS flags nearly 100 H-1B cases linked to DEI roles

The information was shared in an official response dated April 21, 2026. It came from the USCIS Office of the Director, replying to a letter sent by US Senator Eric Schmitt in September 2025.

In his letter, Schmitt had raised concerns that the H-1B programme was being used to bring in foreign workers for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion roles in universities, hospitals, and other publicly funded institutions in the US. 

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USCIS said it reviewed H-1B petitions from FY 2021 to FY 2024 after these concerns were raised. It identified about 100 cases that appeared to involve DEI-related roles, while excluding unrelated categories such as jobs linked to “private equity.” The details of these cases were also shared with the Senator.

Policy changes on the way 

In its response, USCIS linked this review to President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending “radical and wasteful government DEI programs.”  It also referred to a Presidential Proclamation issued on September 19, 2025, which introduced a $100,000 payment requirement for certain new H-1B petitions filed after September 21, 2025. This step was presented as part of wider efforts to reform the visa system and protect American workers. 

USCIS has now asked its Office of Policy and Strategy to prepare a new policy update to stop the misuse of the H-1B programme for DEI-related hiring. The agency also said it is ready to work with Senator Schmitt on both policy and legal changes “to promote American values and put the American people first.”  It further said it can provide a full briefing to the Senator and his team on the progress of this work. 

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Schmitt’s criticism of DEI hiring 

Senator Schmitt has been vocal on this issue, arguing that the H-1B visa was created to fill serious skill shortages in specialised fields. According to him, it is now being used for roles like “DEI Specialists” and “Equity Advisors,” which he says are not technical or specialised jobs. He has called this a misuse of the system and said it takes opportunities away from American workers while also using taxpayer-funded institutions to support such hiring.

While the current action largely targets DEI and HR-related roles and not core tech jobs, the bigger changes, like higher fees and stricter checks, show that the programme is becoming more tightly controlled under the Trump administration’s “America First” approach. 

‘We’re shutting it down’

Later, in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Senator Schmitt from Missouri pointed to several examples of such jobs in taxpayer-funded institutions. He said money being used to hire and support these positions could instead have gone towards American students, research work, and scholarships. 

“I’ve spent the last year working with USCIS to root out and terminate H-1B abuses. We’ve worked together to expose how the Left weaponised H-1Bs into a DEI fraud factory. We’re shutting it down. Here’s the most recent data,” he wrote.

He also criticised the previous Biden administration’s immigration agencies, including USCIS and the Department of Labour, saying they allowed such applications to go through. In his words, the system had become “unsalvageable,” and was being used to bring in foreign workers for roles he believes are ideological in nature. 

Earlier, Schmitt had written to USCIS pointing out cases from places like Yale New Haven Health System, Dartmouth College, and Carnegie Mellon University, where H-1B visas were reportedly used for diversity and inclusion-related roles. He said these jobs do not match the idea of “speciality occupations” that the visa programme was originally created for.