THE LONG JOURNEY OF H-1B RESHAPING TECHNOLOGY MIGRATION AND TWO DEMOCRACIES

In the late twentieth century the United States created a legal channel to import specialised talent from overseas.

- TDG NETWORK

Silicon Valley's Aerospace and Research Hub.

That channel-the H-1B visa-would revolutionise American science and technology, help Silicon Valley become the world's innovation hub and help build a highly educated Indian-American community. H-1B visas allow U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in "specialty occupations" that require at least a bachelor's degree and theoretical and practical knowledge. The program's roots lie in the Immigration Act of 1990, which created the H-1B category and limited new petitions to 65,000 per year. Congress later added a 20,000-visa exemption for holders of U.S. graduate degrees.

No nation has used this programme more than India. By fiscal year 2024, 71% of all approved H-1B beneficiaries were born in India, far ahead of China's 11.7%. Years earlier, between 2001 and 2015, Indians received 50.5% of H-1B visas for first-time employment. The visa has enabled a dramatic Indian migration: the Indian-American population in the U.S. has grown 174% since 2000 to more than five million people, with median household incomes around $151,200 and 77% of adults holding at least a bachelor's degree. The H-1B program has thus become entwined with the hopes, anxieties and politics of two nations. This narrative traces the H-1B visa's evolution, focusing on how regulatory changes, the Trump and Modi eras and shifting socio-cultural currents have shaped Indo-American relations.