The 1990 Immigration Act introduced limits on H-1B visas (65,000 annually) and employment-based green cards (140,000 annually), significantly affecting employers and high-skilled foreign workers.
Prior to this, H-1 visas had no numerical cap. These restrictions didn’t account for the rising demand for skilled labor driven by innovations like the internet, AI and other technologies.
The arbitrary 65,000 cap, criticized as lacking foresight, was quickly outpaced by employer demand, particularly as over 70% of graduate students in tech-related fields at U.S. universities are international.
In response, Congress temporarily raised the H-1B cap to 115,000 from 1999-2000 under the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act.
However, the increase was inadequate, as the cap was exhausted in consecutive years.
A notable change in 2004 exempted 20,000 U.S. advanced degree holders from the cap, allowing 400,000 skilled professionals to work in the U.S. since then.
Despite these measures, shortages persist, with over a million Indians awaiting green cards.
The gap between U.S. immigration policy and the demand for high-skilled labor remains a critical issue.
With the current plans of newly elected President Donald Trump regarding H-1B visa policy, it remains to be seen how the demand and supply will align amidst the potential strict restrictions from January 2025.