H-1B Visa Undermines American Students and Workers

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Last year, I committed to spending this year exploring the education-to-workforce pipeline. Higher education has long been seen as the start of that pipeline, with graduates transitioning from classrooms to careers. My interest in this topic dates back to my time working for Governor Phil Bryant in Mississippi, where I assisted Laurie Smith in studying how the state’s community colleges and training programs prepared graduates for the workforce. The results were underwhelming—a topic for another day. For now, a more pressing issue is the role of the H-1B visa in this pipeline.

In this week’s top article, Rob Jenkins connects higher education to the H-1B visa program, framing the debate over whether to support the program as a proxy for assessing the quality of U.S. education. He poses a critical question: Are colleges and universities producing enough top-tier talent to meet economic demands—and if not, why?

Jenkins argues that American higher education bears responsibility for leaving graduates behind their international peers. He cites a June 2024 Gallup poll showing that only a third of Americans have confidence in U.S. universities to prepare students for the workforce. This crisis of confidence, Jenkins contends, stems from a combination of social promotion in K-12 schools, the dilution of college curricula, and the prioritization of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) over academic rigor—all of which, he believes, contribute to the nation’s reliance on foreign labor.

[RELATED: No Borders: Higher Education Enables Illegal Immigration]

While Jenkins critiques higher education sharply—and has confirmed he’s open to a little debate—I find myself disagreeing with the premise of his argument regarding the relationship between higher education and the H-1B visa program.

In my view, we should reject the assumption that foreign nationals are inherently more talented, more qualified, or better educated than their American counterparts. We should also challenge the notion that American workers are undereducated for the jobs being filled by H-1B visa holders—mostly tech jobs—or that employers are merely making a rational business decision. Most importantly, I think we need to focus on a more targeted critique of higher education’s role in perpetuating this dynamic within the H-1B conversation.

For starters, an American bachelor’s degree—or its foreign equivalent—is required for H-1B sponsorship. Many international students pursue U.S. degrees, believing this is the best pathway to obtaining H-1B visas. Consider this question posed on the site Quora: 

Are chances good if I get a bachelor’s Computer Science degree in the U.S. as an international student that I can get a company to sponsor an H-1B visa in 3 years after graduation, or should I resort to Canadian colleges?

But if foreign students attend the same “dumbed-down” or “DEI-driven” programs as their native-born American counterparts, it seems odd to say that the dumbing down of America’s higher ed curriculum is influencing employers to select foreign nationals to fill American jobs. How would a foreign student’s credentials seem more appealing to employers? 

The answer lies in profits. And this is where, I think, many proponents of the H-1B program wrongfully assume that America’s employers are just simply selecting the best talent.  

Employers’ decisions are not about merit but about exploiting the H-1B program to cut costs, effectively undercutting American workers. They are less concerned with perceived shortcomings—like a supposed lack of well-roundedness among native-born workers—and more focused on the higher price tag associated with hiring Americans. This unfairly diminishes the value of American graduates, particularly in STEM fields, who are often highly qualified, meet all the necessary criteria, and possess the skills to excel. The real issue isn’t their capability—it’s that American workers rightfully expect fair compensation for their contributions.

Meanwhile, universities show little concern for what I call the “education-to-exploit pipeline.” This exploitation cuts both ways: qualified foreign workers are paid less than their American counterparts to perform the same jobs, and native-born American citizens face fewer employment opportunities as companies fill positions with cheaper labor.

Universities actively grow the pool of qualified foreign nationals for U.S. jobs. In fact, they openly promote the H-1B visa as a selling point for earning an American degree, highlighting special benefits and pathways to the visa for foreign nationals earning master’s or PhDs. By doing so, higher education institutions actively participate in undermining the American public—the taxpayers who fund them.

This, I believe, is a sharper critique of higher education’s relationship with the H-1B visa program. America’s colleges and universities leverage foreign nationals to fill classrooms at premium rates (see Neetu Arnold’s “The Takeover”), effectively credentialing them to qualify for H-1B sponsorships. In doing so, these institutions abandon what I believe should be their primary mission: serving American students and, by extension, the American workforce. Bringing in waves of foreign students—regardless of their country of origin—displaces domestic students.

We should work to reform everything Jenkins noted, but we must also add to his list a call for institutions of higher education to stop relying on foreign nationals to fill classrooms and subsequently credentialing thousands of them to take American jobs. These institutions should lower tuition costs and bring more native-born Americans through their doors.

[RELATED: How Chinese Students Are Changing Our Colleges]

I appreciate Jenkins for sparking this important debate, and I hope it encourages more contributions on the topic. He’s absolutely right to highlight the failures of American education and the erosion of academic rigor. But we need to frame the issue in a way that critiques all stakeholders, starting with a real assessment of what drives employers’ decisions. It’s not about hiring the best person for the job; it’s about finding someone who is qualified and willing to work for significantly less. Foreign nationals support that business model.

We also need to confront higher education’s role in perpetuating this education-to-exploit pipeline. By awarding degrees that qualify foreign nationals for H-1B status, universities fuel a system that prioritizes global economic interests over the well-being of the American public. These institutions actively prepare foreign students to compete directly against domestic workers, undermining their own citizens in the process.

If we want a nation that prioritizes its own citizens, we must address higher education’s overreliance on foreign students and the financial incentives that sustain it. Universities, already seen as degree mills churning out workforce credentials, should refocus on preparing American students for American jobs. Anything less is a disservice to the country.

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