US Vice President JD Vance Calls for Scrapping of H-1B Visa Program

US Vice President JD Vance has once again taken aim at the H-1B visa program and branded it “completely broken,” while supporting the push to scrap the work visa system altogether. This particular non-immigrant classification allows US employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations. Professionals in STEM-related fields especially rely on this category to land jobs in the United States. Consequently, official USCIS data has shown Indian nationals dominating the H-1B program in recent years, securing over 70% of all visa approvals in this classification each year. Vance’s reiterated stance against the H-1B program was shared on his X profile amid the Trump administration’s ongoing aggressive immigration crackdown. The Trump administration has introduced multiple policy overhauls that especially target the work visa system over arguments that US employers recruit “cheap foreign labor” instead of American workers.` The Trump administration has issued stark warnings against companies laying off US workers while still hiring foreign talent. Vance himself recently unloaded on tech titans relying on the program and favouring international workers over Americans. Ironically, his latest remarks surfaced online as the administration’s efforts to impose a hefty $100,000 fee on new H-1B applications continue to face legal setbacks. Just this Wednesday, a second federal judge blocked Trump’s fee, ruling that US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the State Department failed to follow necessary rule-making protocol before imposing the fee. Vice President JD Vance on H1-B visas: "If you’re going to bring in an accountant making $45,000 a year to replace an accountant who is an American making $60,000 a year, that’s not you using the program to bring in a genius. That’s you destroying American jobs and defrauding… pic.twitter.com/2yhrBzrnT8 Amid already mounting calls for the work visa program’s elimination from the Republican side, JD Vance sat down for an interview with ‘Real America’s Voice’ on board Air Force 2. “If you’re going to bring in an accountant making $45,000 a year to replace an accountant who is an American making $60,000 a year, that’s not you using the program to bring in a genius,” he said, according to the interaction shared online as a clip on his official X account. “That’s you destroying American jobs and defrauding the American people… My view is the H-1B program is completely broken.” He went on to defend the administration’s imposition of the $100,000 fee, which originated in September last year when Trump first signed a proclamation targeting the program. Vance stressed that the higher price tag associated with hiring foreign employees hinged on the idea that the program needs to prioritise higher-skilled and higher-paid workers. “If you’re just trying to replace an American accountant with a cheaper foreign accountant, then you’re not going to pay $100,000,” he added. Our message to corporate America is simple: We’re not going to let you lay off American workers so you can replace them with cheap foreign labor.https://t.co/Ct7CGfaGDp Trump’s $100,000 fee was set to expire on September 21, 2026; however, the administration recently extended it by another year. While it continues to be contested legally by over a dozen of US states, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also proposed a separate fee of $103,265 in August. It’s expected to face its own legal pushback. Vance, dubbed the administration’s “fraud czar,” also said during an appearance on the ‘All-In Podcast’ that US authorities are looking at numerous ways to prevent companies using H-1B visas from “laying off a bunch of American workers.” “One of the things that I find just shocking about this is you’ll have a company that applies for an H-1B, and they’ll say, oh, we’re desperate for workers. We can’t find the workers,” Vance continued. “And then you go and look at their history, and they’ve laid off 5,000 people. Well, that’s ridiculous.” On September 18 (US time), President Donald Trump signed yet another executive order in a bid to “protect American national and economic security and American workers from abuses of the H-1B visa program,” according to a White House ‘Fact Sheet.’ Pushing for enhanced program integrity, the order sought to improve interagency coordination and direct aggressive scrutiny of H-1B visa applications where there is an increased risk of American workers being laid off. The growing scrutiny of employment-based immigration programs in the US has also involved instances like the US Labor Department’s inspector general suspending Cognizant’s ability to file new PERM applications , which help immigrants secure Green Cards in the long run. Similarly, software company Cloudera has also had its H-1B processing suspended as the administration intensifies its probe into alleged visa fraud. : This article is intended for informational purposes only and is based on publicly available immigration guidance. Rules and deadlines are subject to change; readers should verify current requirements directly with USCIS or consult a qualified immigration attorney before making decisions based on this information. Financial Express is not responsible for any decisions made based on this information.