H-1B Visas Quickly Snatched Up

All the country’s visas for high-skilled workers were snatched up in the first week yet again this year, the government reported Thursday, signaling that companies’ voracious appetites for cheap foreign workers remains unabated despite intense criticism on the presidential campaign trail.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it received more than enough applications to claim the 85,000 visas available under the H-1B program this year and will once again hold a lottery to award the coveted permits.

Technology companies, desperate for the workers, said reaching the cap just days after the April 1 application period began should spur Congress to more than double the limit. They lamented the “absurdity” of leaving tens of thousands of willing workers without a path into the U.S.

But tech employees and those seeking stricter immigration limits say the H-1B program has become a chief way to undercut Americans’ wages. They point to several high-profile cases in which U.S. workers were fired and, in some cases, even forced to train their foreign replacements.

“It’s very disappointing for someone like me, an American who’s been affected. And not only me, but hundreds here in Florida,” said Leo Perrero, a former tech worker at Disney who trained his replacement and earlier this year filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Disney of colluding to displace Americans.

H-1B visas allow foreigners to stay in the U.S. for up to six years and often are used as gateway visas. Companies apply to get their employees green cards, signifying permanent legal residence.

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