Indian-American Republican presidential aspirant Vivek Ramaswamy has called the H-1B visa programme “indentured servitude” and vowed to “gut” the lottery-based system. He added that he will replace it with meritocratic admission if he wins the US Presidential election in 2024. It is worth noting that Ramaswamy himself has used the programme 29 times to hire employees under H-1B visas.
From 2018 through 2023, US Citizenship and Immigration Services approved 29 applications from the GOP candidate’s former company, Roivant Sciences, to hire employees under H-1B visas. Even then, Ramaswamy has called the system “bad for everyone involved.” He stepped down as chief executive officer of Roivant in February 2021. However, he remained the chair of its board of directors until February 2023.
Admission on basis of merit?
Ramaswamy has referred to the H-1B visa programme as the lottery system that needs to be replaced by actual meritocratic admission. “It’s a form of indentured servitude that only accrues to the benefit of the company that sponsored an H-1B immigrant. I’ll gut it,” he said. He added that the US needs to eliminate chain-based migration. He further added that the people who come as family members are not the meritocratic immigrants who make skills-based contributions to this country.
Shift in Ramaswamy’s policy stance
On being asked about the difference in Ramaswamy’s policy stance and his past business practices, press secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the role of a policymaker “is to do what’s right for a country overall: the system is broken and needs to be fixed”. McLaughlin added that Ramaswamy believes that the US energy sector regulations are “badly broken”, however, he still uses water and electricity. “This is the same,” McLaughlin said.
Earlier in Milwaukee, Ramaswamy had shared his own experience with immigration at a Republican debate. He said his parents came to the US with no money four decades ago. “I have gone on to found multi-billion-dollar companies,” he added.
Increase in H-1B visa demand
The highly sought-after H-1B visas have seen an increase in demand. For the financial year 2021, US businesses submitted 780,884 applications for just 85,000 available slots,an increase of more than 60%.
Every year, the US gives 65,000 H-1B visas which are open to all and 20,000 to those with advanced US degrees.
(With PTI inputs)