US H-1B visa a 'scam', mostly Indians make money off system: Florida guv

H-1B visa programme a scam? Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and several other Republicans believe so. Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, DeSantis called H-1B a “total scam”, saying it enables companies to replace American workers with cheaper foreign labour, mainly from India.

DeSantis claimed companies often made American employees train H-1B workers before laying them off. “Most of them (H-1Bs) are from one country, India, there’s a cottage industry about how all those people make money off this system,” he said.

He added that artificial intelligence was already displacing young American workers and asked why the country should “be importing foreign workers when we have our own people that we need to take care of”.

Pressed on divisions in Donald Trump’s cabinet over the policy, DeSantis said: “I think you’re right to say the H-1B, it’s become a total scam. These companies game the system. Some of these companies are laying off large numbers of Americans while also hiring new H-1B workers and renewing existing H-1B visas.”

Supporters of the programme, however, argue the visas help fill gaps in the United States labour market, especially in science and technology fields.

'H-1B visas provide jobs to native Americans'

The American Immigration Council, a Washington DC-based advocacy group affiliated with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, has consistently pushed back against such criticism. In a fact sheet published in October 2024, it said immigrant and native-born workers generally bring different skill sets and “complement each other in the labour market rather than competing for the exact same jobs”.

It added that immigrant workers spend and invest their wages in the economy, start new businesses, and introduce ideas and innovations that boost growth.

Trump’s shifting stance

DeSantis’ remarks came on the day Lutnick said the administration was preparing changes to the immigration system, including the H-1B and green card process. Lutnick also tweeted on Tuesday that the H-1B visa was a scam.

He suggested a “gold card” plan granting residency to foreigners who invest $5 million in the US.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s relationship with the H-1B visa has been anything but consistent—deriding it as president while simultaneously relying on it to staff his own firms. He has spent decades swinging between critic and beneficiary, warning it costs American jobs even as his businesses turned to it for skilled workers. In January 2025, soon after his second inauguration, he appeared at the White House with Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Softbank’s Masayoshi Son and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, voicing support for the visa.

“I like both sides of the argument, but I also like very competent people coming into our country, even if that involves them training and helping other people that may not have the qualifications they do,” Trump said.

He added: “We want competent people coming into our country. And H-1B, I know the programme very well. I use the programme. Maître d’, wine experts, even waiters, high-quality waiters — you’ve got to get the best people. People like Larry, he needs engineers, Masa also needs… they need engineers like nobody’s ever needed them.”

During his first term, Trump imposed curbs on H-1Bs, warning of abuse and job losses. In 2016, he had condemned the scheme as a tool for companies to replace Americans with cheaper staff from abroad.