Buc-ee’s, the iconic gas station chain known for its squeaky-clean restrooms and witty beaver billboards, isn’t relying on foreign labor through the H-1B visa program—even as some of its top competitors do.
A review of government data from the H1B Salary Database and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) H1B Datahub shows no evidence that Buc-ee’s, either at its corporate offices or individual locations, has submitted an H-1B visa petition in the last five years. This sets Buc-ee’s apart from other convenience store giants like QuikTrip and Pilot Flying J, which have both sought foreign workers for business and tech-related positions.
The H-1B program was created by Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. It allows U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign nationals in “specialty occupations” that require at least a bachelor’s degree and specialized knowledge. The Department of Labor website says the program was designed to help companies fill positions that “cannot otherwise obtain needed business skills and abilities from the U.S. workforce.”
In practice, however, critics argue the program has expanded far beyond its original scope.
Records from the H1B Salary Database show that QuikTrip Corporation, based in Tulsa, filed a 2023 application for a data engineer. Similarly, Pilot Travel Centers LLC—the parent company of Pilot Flying J—has filed multiple petitions in late 2024 and early 2025 for data and business-related roles. While the data from USCIS only runs through 2024, the Datahub confirms H1B visa holders were employed at both corporations.
No such filings appear under any formulation of “Buc-ee’s” in any of the databases reviewed.
That clean break from H-1B hiring is unusual. While industries like tech and finance dominate the program’s usage, it is increasingly rare to find major companies in any sector entirely absent from the system.
Some critics say the H-1B system is rife with abuse. The H1B Salary Database has logged petitions for positions as varied—and arguably nonspecialized—as dance instructors, construction laborers, and bar managers.
Sometimes, entries in the H1B salary database suggest that visa holders are being paid rock-bottom wages for their type of work, an economic shock that would place downward pressure on both the wages of visa holders and American citizens, The Dallas Express reported.
Chinese and Indian nationals receive nearly all of the H-1B visas. 72% of H-1B visas were issued to Indian nationals while 12% went to Chinese nationals, the latest available USCIS data reveals.
Supporters of the visa system argue the issue isn’t misuse, but a cultural and educational gap in the American labor market.
Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy made waves around Christmas 2024 with a lengthy social media post defending hiring high-performing foreign-born engineers. “The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over ‘native’ Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit… A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture,” he wrote, arguing that American youth culture prioritizes popularity and conformity over hard work and intellectual achievement.
Ramaswamy said this mismatch contributes to America’s declining competitiveness in STEM fields. “If you grow up aspiring to normalcy, normalcy is what you will achieve,” he warned, suggesting a shift back toward valuing excellence and “nerdiness” over entertainment-driven mediocrity.
Buc-ee’s, for its part, touts a different cultural pitch.
“Ever since our inception in 1982, we have been committed to providing a clean, friendly, and in stock experience for our customers,” the company website states. It famously won a nationwide contest for the “Cleanest Restrooms in America” in 2012.
That down-home ethos may help explain why Buc-ee’s is staying off the H-1B visa rolls—even as the rest of the roadside economy shifts toward a globalized workforce.
Buc-ee’s was contacted for comment on the production of this story, but a spokesman did not return comment by deadline.