The H-1B Visa Program: A Source of Controversy for Tech Companies
The H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. companies to employ up to 85,000 foreign workers with specialized skills annually, is attracting increased scrutiny. The program operates via an annual lottery, currently underway and scheduled to conclude on March 24. While former President Donald Trump once supported the program, labeling it “a great program,” opposition has risen within his political base.
This shift in sentiment was highlighted by Trump’s appointment of Sriram Krishnan, an Indian American, as a senior White House advisor for AI. The move drew criticism, including from former aide Steve Bannon, who called the program “a total and complete scam to destroy the American worker.”
Political Pressure and Industry Concerns
In late January, Republican Senators John Kennedy and Rick Scott introduced a joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act to reverse a Biden-era rule that extended the automatic renewal period for employment authorization documents. Kennedy stated the extension “hampers the Trump administration’s efforts to enforce our immigration laws,” signaling more attention on work permits for foreign nationals.
Even some tech leaders who previously supported the program are expressing reservations. Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen have recognized the need for reform. Andreessen indicated on Lex Fridman’s podcast that the U.S. has been conducting “a 60-year social engineering experiment to exclude native-born people from the educational slots and jobs that high-skill immigration has been funneling foreigners into.” Musk has suggested raising the minimum salary for H-1B visa holders alongside a yearly cost to make hiring from overseas more expensive.
Musk has been quoted as saying, “I’ve been very clear that the program is broken and needs major reform.”
Impact on the Tech Industry
Should the program experience significant changes or restrictions, the repercussions for America’s largest technology companies would be substantial. These companies have built their workforces around access to global talent. Business Insider analyzed data from the Department of Labor and US Citizenship and Immigration Services to identify companies that filed the most H-1B requests during the 2024 fiscal year.
The data stems from applications submitted by businesses seeking to sponsor skilled workers’ visas. These companies collectively file for thousands of visas each year, using them to fill critical roles, particularly those in technical areas. It’s worth noting that not every filing leads to a hire, and some companies may submit multiple applications for the same role. The publicly available data, however, provides a credible look at the program usage by major corporations.
This analysis excludes IT consulting firms to focus on tech product companies, even though firms like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services are traditionally among the largest users of the H-1B program. The analysis clearly reveals that tech giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Apple are among the most active users, filing thousands of applications annually. Most positions supported by the program are for software engineers. Other areas include research, product management, and data science.
Top Tech Companies Sponsoring H-1B Visas
The data below illustrates the tech companies with the highest number of H-1B visa filings.
- Amazon
- Microsoft
- Alphabet
- Total certified H-1B filings: 5,537 (includes 115 from Waymo and Verily).
- Total employees worldwide: 183,323 as of the end of 2024.
- Meta
- Apple
- IBM
- Total certified H-1B filings: 2,907.
- Total employees worldwide: More than 293,400 as of the end of 2024.
- Intel
- Oracle
- Oracle moved its headquarters to Austin in 2020 after four decades in Silicon Valley.
- A spokesperson stated at the time that the move gave employees “more flexibility about where and how they work.”
- Tesla
- Total certified H-1B filings: 1,677.
- Total employees worldwide: 125,665 as of the end of 2024.
- ByteDance
- Total certified H-1B filings: 1,611.
- Total employees worldwide: More than 150,000, according to their website.
- Salesforce
- Total certified H-1B filings: 1,525 (A Salesforce spokesperson said that the company filed 1,808 H-1B petitions in fiscal year 2024 including new hires, amendments, and extensions).
- Total employees worldwide: 76,453 as of the end of January 2025.
- Nvidia
- Cisco
- Total certified H-1B filings: 1,330.
- Total employees worldwide: 90,400 as of the end of fiscal year 2024.
- Qualcomm
- Adobe
- Total certified H-1B filings: 787.
- Total employees worldwide: More than 30,708 as of November 2024.
- Intuit
- Uber
- Paypal
- eBay
- eBay recently announced layoffs. CEO Jamie Iannone said that as of January 23, 1,000 jobs are being eliminated.
- Rivian
- ServiceNow
- Total certified H-1B filings: 578.
- Total employees worldwide: 26,293 as of the end of 2024.
- HP
- Total certified H-1B filings: 533.
- Total employees worldwide: 58,000 as of the end of 2024.
- Dell
- Lucid Motors
- Total certified H-1B filings: 488.
- Total employees worldwide: 6,800 as of the end of 2024.
- DoorDash
- Fiserv
- Total certified H-1B filings: 403.
- Total employees worldwide: 38,000 as of the end of 2024.
- Micron Technology
- VMWare
- Total certified H-1B filings: 359.
- Total employees worldwide: 16,000 according to Business Insider’s sources.
- ADP
- Total certified H-1B filings: 350.
- Total employees worldwide: 64,000 as of June 2024.
- Workday
- Workday, the human-resources software company, said in February that it is cutting 8.5% of its workforce, or around 1,750 employees.
- Expedia
- MathWorks
- Total certified H-1B filings: 295.
- Total employees worldwide: 6,500, according to the corporate website.
- Snowflake
- Total certified H-1B filings: 285.
- Total employees worldwide: 7,004 as of January 31, 2024.
- Databricks
- Synopsys
- Total certified H-1B filings: 267.
- Total employees worldwide: 20,000 as of November 2024.
- Stripe
- Snap
- Netflix
- Block
- Pinterest
- Total certified H-1B filings: 225.
- Total employees worldwide: 4,666 as of the end of 2024.
