Category: H-1b
Texas first: Gov. Abbott freezes H-1B visas after damning report from BlazeTV’s Sara Gonzales
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed all state agencies on Tuesday to “immediately freeze” new H-1B visa petitions, citing “recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa program” and the “federal government’s ongoing review of that program to ensure American jobs are going to American workers.”
BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales, who exposed a rash of possible H-1B visa fraud in the Lone Star State earlier this month, welcomed the governor’s directive.
‘Bad actors have exploited this program by failing to make good-faith efforts to recruit qualified US workers before seeking to use foreign labor.’
Gonzales told Blaze News, “I am thrilled to hear our work exposing the abuse of the H-1B system is being taken seriously, and I commend Governor Abbott for taking necessary steps to protect American workers in the state of Texas from having their jobs stolen from them.”
“I hope this is the first of many statewide actions that course correct on this issue,” Gonzales added.
RELATED: ‘A direct path to Citizenship’: Trump announces official launch of Trump Gold Card visa program
At the outset of her investigation, Gonzales scrutinized a pair of companies that on paper appear to have relied in recent years on scores of foreign workers: 3Bees Technologies Inc. and Qubitz Tech Systems.
3Bees Technologies Inc. — whose agent, director, and president is Vamsi Krishna Vajinapally — had 27 H-1B beneficiaries approved in 2022 and 19 visa petitions apparently denied the following year. Qubitz Tech Systems had 12 H-1B beneficiaries approved last year.
RELATED: America should eliminate the H-1B and replace it with THIS
BlazeTV
Gonzales’ visits to the supposed offices of both companies — a vacant construction site in one case and a vacant, prison cell-size room with a single chair in the other — proved eye-opening, prompting her and others to question whether the companies and their visa sponsorships were above-board.
“Once you start scraping data from H-1B databases, you start seeing immediately all of these patterns,” Gonzales said in her damning report. “The biggest question I have right now is: If we were able to find this with just a little bit of Google-searching and follow-up, why hasn’t [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] done anything to combat this?”
When pressed for comment, Abbott’s office referred Blaze News to his directive, which states:
Evidence suggests that bad actors have exploited this program by failing to make good-faith efforts to recruit qualified U.S. workers before seeking to use foreign labor. In the most egregious schemes, employers have even fired American workers and replaced them with H-1B employees, often at lower wages. Rather than serving its intended purpose of attracting the best and brightest individuals from around the world to our nation to fill truly specialized and unmet labor needs, the program has too often been used to fill jobs that otherwise could — and should — have been filled by Texans.
Per the governor’s directive, state agencies are prohibited from initiating or filing any new petition to sponsor a non-immigrant worker under the federal H-1B visa program unless given express permission by the Texas Workforce Commission.
The governor has also given public universities and various state agencies until March 27 to provide an account of how many H-1B visa holders they are currently sponsoring; the countries of origin of their sponsored H-1B visa holders; the expected expiration date for each sponsored visa; and the efforts taken to ensure that Texan candidates were afforded a reasonable opportunity to apply for each position filled by an H-1B visa holder.
“State government must lead by example and ensure that employment opportunities — particularly those funded with taxpayer dollars — are filled by Texans first,” Abbott wrote in his directive.
The H-1B visa program enables U.S.-based employers to temporarily hire foreign workers into specialized positions that American citizens supposedly can’t do. H-1B specialty occupation workers are generally admitted for a period of up to three years, which can in most cases be extended for another three years.
While Republicans are taking action, lawmakers from both parties have in recent years expressed concerns about H-1B visa fraud and abuse, proposing amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act that would reform or even abolish the program.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ H-1B Employer Data Hub indicates that over 41,500 H-1B visa beneficiaries were approved for fiscal year 2025 in Texas. Oracle America Inc., Tesla Inc., AT&T Services Inc., Hewlett Packard, American Airlines, Texas A&M’s flagship campus, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center were among the top sponsors.
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‘A direct path to Citizenship’: Trump announces official launch of Trump Gold Card visa program
The Trump administration has announced a brand-new visa package that is expected to help some of America’s biggest companies keep their foreign talent.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced the launch of the Trump Gold Card, an expedited pathway to U.S. residence and even citizenship for a premium price.
‘This landmark program fulfills President Trump’s promise to attract the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and investors to America while guaranteeing they have skin in the game.’
On Truth Social, Trump said, “THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT’S TRUMP GOLD CARD IS HERE TODAY! A direct path to Citizenship for all qualified and vetted people. SO EXCITING! Our Great American Companies can finally keep their invaluable Talent.”
The program has multiple tiers. Individuals can pay a fee of $1 million to receive U.S. residency in “record time” as part of the Trump Gold Card.
Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images
The Trump Corporate Gold Card functions similarly but has a fee of $2 million that the company will pay.
The Trump Platinum Card, which the website says is “coming soon,” costs $5 million and will allow foreigners to live in the United States for 270 days “without being subject to U.S. taxes on non-U.S. income.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained how companies can use this program: “The company can keep them here, and they have a path to citizenship. Obviously, they have to be perfect people in America. And having passed the vetting, after five years, they’ll be available to become citizens, and then the corporation puts someone else on the card.”
Lutnick added that the proceeds of this expensive program will function as a “gift to the United States.”
All applications also require a $15,000 processing fee as part of the vetting process.
The Trump Gold Card functions as a lottery through EB-1 and EB-2 visas, which filter for extraordinary ability in various fields.
“This landmark program fulfills President Trump’s promise to attract the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and investors to America while guaranteeing they have skin in the game,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X in light of the announcement.
Trump ordered the creation of the Trump Gold Card program on the same day that he ordered the $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa applications, a popular move that addresses some of the abuses with the H-1B program without canceling it entirely.
The Gold Card office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
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Crush the H-1B program: MTG’s proposed bill aims to stop companies from depressing American wages with foreign workers
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) plans to introduce a bill to eliminate a controversial visa program.
On Thursday, Greene announced that she would propose legislation to “aggressively” phase out the H-1B program, which allows foreign nationals to enter the U.S. to fill “specialty occupations.”
‘My bill will take away the pathway to citizenship, forcing visa holder to return home when their visa expires.’
The requirements of the program state that the individual must provide “theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge.” However, critics of the program argue that it has been exploited to flood the U.S. labor market with foreign labor, resulting in fewer jobs and depressed wages.
“For far too long, Big Tech, AI companies, hospital systems, and corporations across the board have abused this system to undercut hard working Americans,” Greene said in a statement provided to Blaze News.
She explained that her bill would eliminate the program to ensure American workers are prioritized in every industry.
“I believe in the strength, talent, and incredible potential of the American people,” Greene declared.
RELATED: The H-1B system is broken. Here’s how to fix it.
President Donald Trump. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Greene stated that the bill would allow only one exception: a 10,000-per-year cap on visas issued to medical professionals. However, she noted that even this exception would be phased out over a 10-year period.
“My bill will also restore the original intent of the visa, for it to be temporary. These visas were intended to fulfill a specialty occupational need at a given time. People should not be allowed to come and live here forever,” Greene said in a video posted to X. “My bill will take away the pathway to citizenship, forcing visa holder to return home when their visa expires.”
RELATED: Trump admin announces major H-1B visa abuse investigation, but critics want more
Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Donald Trump, during an interview with Fox News that aired this week, expressed support for the H-1B program, stating that it is essential for bringing in individuals with specific talents and for training American workers in those specialized areas.
In a separate interview, U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told Fox Business, “There are companies who are using the H-1B visa program, who are abusing the program. What we want to make sure is we’re always protecting the American worker.”
“We will clamp down on these companies who are abusing and depressing wages and not protecting the American worker first,” Chavez-DeRemer added.
“We don’t need to import a foreign workforce when we have brilliant Americans ready to work and ready to succeed,” Greene said in a statement provided to Blaze News. “My bill shuts down the corrupt H-1B pipeline and puts Americans first again, just like we should’ve been doing all along.”
“The impact of this bill will be massive — Americans securing good paying jobs will also help the housing market. They will no longer have to compete with legally imported labor on visas.”
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