H-1B visa workers are not undercutting US peers; they aren't cheap labour

Salaries of foreign professionals are higher than those of their American counterparts, particularly in the tech industry

The United States is moving to hike minimum wages for H-1B visa holders, seeking to stop companies that critics say are undercutting American workers with cheap foreign labour.

 

The Donald Trump administration argues that hiring on H-1B visas disadvantages American workers in the technology sector, but government data shows that allegations of wage undercutting are misplaced.

 

Wages under the H-1B visa programme are by no measure low. The median annual wage of all workers employed on H-1B visas (both existing and new) in FY25 (October 1 to September 30) was $133,000 — exceeding the 90th percentile wage of all US workers at $128,560. This means the median wage under the H-1B visa route was in the top 10 per cent of wages earned by US workers annually.

 

This wage trend first occurred in 2021 and then repeated in 2022 and 2025. The median wage of H-1B visa workers increased by nearly 11 per cent from $120,000 in FY24 to $133,000 in FY25 — the highest absolute rise in two decades. 

 

Workers employed under the H-1B visa route are mostly engaged in computer-related jobs. Such work accounted for 62 per cent of all H-1B visa petitions approved by the US government in FY25. H-1B visa holders earn more than American workers in this sector, too.

 

From FY22 to FY24, the average annual wage of a person undertaking initial employment on an H-1B visa was slightly less than that of a US worker in computer-related occupations. In FY25, the gap closed and the average annual wage for H-1B visa holders exceeded that of a US worker by nearly $16,000. This happened as the average wage of an initial employee rose from $116,000 in FY24 to $136,000 in FY25.

 

The average annual wage of a continuing employee on an H-1B visa is significantly higher than that of a US worker in computer-related jobs. 

 

The US approved over 400,000 H-1B visa petitions in FY25. People born in India received 69.9 per cent of such approvals — the lowest in recent years. That is because the approval rate for petitions by India-born professionals for initial employment fell from 57 per cent in FY24 to 50.3 per cent in FY25.

 

Petition approvals for India-born professionals for continuing employment declined marginally in FY25 but remain high at 77.6 per cent. This indicates that most India-born professionals in the US maintain their employment by securing H-1B visa extensions.