‘H-1B visas should not exist to replace American workers with low-wage foreigners’: JD Vance

US Vice President JD Vance has defended the Trump administration’s efforts to reform the H-1B visa programme, saying the system should “not exist to replace American workers with low-wage foreigners.”Speaking on the business and technology show All-In Podcast, Vance said the administration pursued changes through executive and administrative measures because of the lack of political support in Congress for legislative reform.“Look, man, we looked at the fraud in the system and we said, you know, one, Congress is not going to pass a law changing this. There just isn’t the political will to do it. So what are the things that we can do administratively to ensure that if a tech company is going to try to get an H-1B visa, it’s an actual genius,” Vance said.He further said that the programme should focus on workers who can make a substantial contribution to the technology sector and the wider US economy.“It’s a person that is going to significantly enrich the tech ecosystem or the American economy. You know, you’re not just replacing one accountant who makes $60,000 with a lower-wage foreign accountant who makes $45,000 a year. That is not what the programme exists for,” he added.Vance also highlighted a $100,000 fee introduced by the administration and said officials were examining measures to prevent companies from using H-1B workers while simultaneously laying off American employees.“And so we came up with this idea to impose this $100,000 fee. We’re also looking at various ways of preventing companies that use H-1B visas from laying off a bunch of American workers. So you know, 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.”He questioned companies that claim they cannot find workers despite having recently carried out large-scale layoffs. “We can’t find the workers. And then you go and look at their history and they’ve laid off 5,000 people. Well, that’s ridiculous.”Vance said companies that lay off US workers should not then turn to foreign workers to fill similar positions.“If you’re laying off American workers, you shouldn’t be going to the market searching for foreign workers to replace them. So we’re doing a lot within the confines, of course, of what we’re allowed to do legally. We’ve gotten sued on some of this stuff, but I think fundamentally we’re on the right on both the law and the policy,” he added.Reiterating the administration’s stated objective for the H-1B programme, Vance said, “The H-1B should not exist to replace American workers with low-wage foreigners. It should exist to enrich the American economy. And that’s exactly what we’re trying to make sure it does.”Vance was raised in Middletown, Ohio, and spent summers with extended family in Jackson, Kentucky. His upbringing in Ohio and Appalachia has played a significant role in shaping his political identity.The UP president is married to Usha Chilukuri Vance, an Indian-origin lawyer and former litigator. The couple met at Yale Law School and married in 2014. They have four children.