More than half of U.S. citizens believe H-1B visa workers are taking jobs away from Americans, according to new survey results.
The poll, conducted by the anonymous workplace app Blind between August 25 and September 3, surveyed 4,230 professionals and revealed stark divides in how foreign and U.S.-born workers perceive the program. While 70% of all respondents said H-1B holders help American companies grow, only 49% of U.S. citizens agreed, compared to 87% of foreign-born professionals.
Perhaps most striking, 56% of U.S. citizens said H-1B visa holders create “unfair competition” and take jobs from American workers. That figure dropped to 27% among green card holders. Interestingly, around 1 in 10 H-1B holders agreed.
The H-1B program, first authorized by Congress in 1990, allows U.S. companies to temporarily hire foreign workers in specialty fields requiring at least a bachelor’s degree. It provides 85,000 new slots annually to the private sector, as well as additional visas for universities. The visas last for up to 6 years.
Federal data shows that about 72% of the visas go to workers from India and 12% to those from China.
The survey also found disagreement over whether citizenship should play a role in hiring. Sixty-three percent of all respondents said companies should hire the best talent regardless of status, but 60% of U.S. citizens said they should prioritize citizens and green card holders.
On Blind, employees from major firms shared opposing perspectives. A Microsoft employee wrote, “The H1B and other visa programs are out of control, and have become a way for the U.S. to hand its best jobs to foreigners. We have enough SWE graduates in the U.S. now that these programs can and should be scaled back SIGNIFICANTLY.”
Others disagreed. An Amazon professional countered, “Stopping H-1B renewals just moves cutting edge development to another country. Tech follows talent.”
A PayPal employee added, “Once someone is in the labor pool (i.e. they have a visa) they are 100% equivalent to anyone else in the labor pool. None of this ‘when there’s layoffs the H1-Bs go first’ nonsense.”
The release of the survey results comes as the H-1B program remains a flashpoint in U.S. politics.
President Donald Trump has long criticized the visa as a form of cheap labor, pledging in 2016 to “end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first.”
More recently, Trump has announced a planned end to the issuance of visas on a lottery basis and has indicated that there will be a regulatory change that allows the visas to be issued based on the highest salaries given to beneficiaries.
Trump allies, including Vice President JD Vance, have criticized large companies for laying off Americans while hiring H-1B replacements. Meanwhile, some Democrats have pushed to expand access to the program, including Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.
Texas has been a focal point of the debate, with companies like Cognizant, Infosys, Oracle, Tesla, and Charles Schwab employing thousands of H-1B workers in the state, according to federal data reviewed by The Dallas Express.
The Young Republicans of Texas recently announced they would not endorse any national candidate who supports the visa program, citing its impact on job competition.