Getty ImagesAn immigration dispute has erupted between Donald Trump's supporters over a long-standing US visa program.
The feud is over H-1B visas, which allow US-based companies to bring in skilled workers from abroad in certain industries.
Some immigration hardliners say the scheme undermines American workers, but supporters say the visas allow the U.S. to attract the best experts from around the world.
The president-elect has weighed in, saying he supports the program — despite being criticized for it in the past — and tech billionaire Elon Musk has also defended it, saying it attracts “the top ~0.1% of engineering talent.”
Here's what the data tells us about who's entering the U.S. on these visas.
How many people are approved each year?
H-1B visas for skilled workers were introduced in 1990. They are usually granted for three years, but can be extended up to six years.
Since 2004, the number of new H-1B visas issued has been limited to 85,000 per year – 20,000 of which are reserved for foreign students with a master's degree or higher from American universities.
However, this limit does not apply to some institutions such as universities, think tanks and other non-profit research groups, so more are often issued.
Individuals may apply for an H-1B visa only if they have contracted employment with a US-based sponsoring company or institution.
The US government also approves extensions for those already working in the country.
Just over 386,000 H-1B petitions were approved in fiscal year 2023. (October 2022 – September 2023), the latest year for which we have complete data, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data..
This includes almost 119,000 new H-1B visas and about 267,000 extensions of existing visas.
The 2023 total is down from more than 474,000 in 2022.
There have been attempts to curtail the H-1B program in the past.
In 2017 then-President Trump has signed an executive order that enhanced scrutiny of H-1B visa applications. The order aims to improve the detection of fraud in the scheme.
Bounce rate hits an all-time high under the first Trump administrationreaching 24% in fiscal year 2018, compared to a disapproval rate of between 5-8% under the Obama administration and between 2-4% under President Biden.
However, the total number of nominees endorsed under the Biden administration is similar to that of the first Trump administration.
In the three years following President Trump's executive order (2018-2020), about 1.1 million applications were approved, with about 343,000 of those being first-time applicants.
In the first three years of Biden's administration (2021-2023), about 1.2 million applications have been approved, with nearly 375,000 new applicants.
Demand often exceeds the supply of visas – in most years there are thousands more applications than approved.
In cases where more applications are received than visas are available, USCIS effectively runs the H-1B program like a lottery — which opponents say highlights a fundamental flaw in the system.
“At the end of the day, if you're going to have a skilled worker program for 'skilled' workers, you don't give out those visas through a lottery,” said Eric Ruark, director of research at NumbersUSA, an organization that advocates for tighter immigration controls.
“Apparently that's not how the best and brightest are found.”
We don't have a full report on the numbers for 2024 yet, but preliminary data shows that applications have increased sharply.
The number of eligible registrations published by USCIS showed 758,994 applications in fiscal 2024, compared to 474,421 in 2023.
After Trump returned to the White House in January, Mr. Ruark said he believed resolving the H-1B debate would ultimately be among the defining factors of his presidency.
“Will this second term be pro-American worker or will it go back to the old Republican position that immigration is meant to help employers — at the expense of American workers?” he said.
“It's going to be a huge fight in the second term.”
What industries and companies do they work in?
The majority of approved applicants work in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Most are in computer-related occupations — 65% in fiscal year 2023.
Architecture, engineering and surveying follow – about 10% of those approved in 2023. people worked in these sectors.
Regarding companies, Amazon was the best employer people on H-1B visas in 2024, hiring more than 13,000 workers through the scheme.
Other familiar names such as Google, Meta and Apple are high on the list of employers – 4th, 6th and 8th respectively.
Tesla, one of the companies owned by Elon Musk that backed the program, ranked 22nd, employing more than 1,700 people on H-1B visas.
California and Texas were the states with the most people working on H-1B visas in 2024.
How much do they earn?
The average annual income of people working in the US on an H-1B visa in 2023 was $118,000 (£94,046).
The average annual income for people in computer and math occupations in the US is about $113,000 – slightly less than those in similar sectors through the H-1B program.
The average household income in the US it is about $60,000 per year.
While opponents of the H-1B system often argue that H-1B holders undercut the wages of American workers, some immigration lawyers and experts reject that idea.
The majority of H-1B holders earn more than the “prevailing wage” for their occupation, a figure set by the Department of Labor that calculates the average wage paid to workers in similar occupations in a particular part of the country.
Shev Dalal-Daney, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told the BBC that while prevailing wages “are not a complete test of the labor market”, they are indicative of the fact that H-visa holders 1B have not negatively affected the rest of the workforce.
“Let's say you're a software engineer in Washington. You look at the going rate for software engineers in D.C. and you have to certify that you're paying at least that amount,” said Ms. Dalal-Dheini, who also worked on H-1B issues while a USCIS official.
“That way, you're not actually undercutting wages.”
In addition, Ms. Dalal-Dheini said, U.S. firms also have to pay significant fees to file H-1B petitions, often in addition to attorneys' fees.
“Companies that end up sponsoring H-1B (recipients) are looking at costs of up to $5,000 to $10,000 on top of what you would have to pay an American worker,” she said.
“The bottom line is that if they could find an American worker who was qualified, most companies would probably choose to hire that American worker because it would be a cost savings.”
Where do people come from?
The majority of those approved come from India.
The the latest data showed about 72% of the visas were issued to Indian nationals, followed by 12% to Chinese nationals.
About 1% came from the Philippines, Canada and South Korea respectively.
About 70% of those entering the US on H-1B visas are men, with the average age of those approved being about 33 years old.
Additional reporting by Becky Dale.