New bill by Chip Roy targets H-1Bs, aims to end lottery and OPT, prioritizing American workers

U.S. Representative Chip Roy has proposed new legislation aimed at reforming the H-1B visa program, which he argues has been exploited to the detriment of American workers. The bill, titled the "American White-Collar Worker Jobs Act," seeks to replace the current lottery system with one that emphasizes merit, enforces genuine wage standards, and prioritizes U.S. white-collar employees.

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It’s time to end this lottery-based pipeline and replace it with a system that prioritizes merit, enforces real wage standards, and puts America’s white-collar workers first.

Roy stated, "It’s time to end this lottery-based pipeline and replace it with a system that prioritizes merit, enforces real wage standards, and puts America’s white-collar workers first." This initiative joins several other similar bills introduced by Republican politicians seeking to regulate the H-1B visa system, though none have yet been passed.

The proposed bill mandates a labor market test to ensure employers have made a good-faith effort to hire local workers before employing H-1B visa holders. This process would involve the Department of Labor and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

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For its nearly forty-year history, the H1-B visa has been abused, allowing employers to routinely sideline American STEM workers in favor of cheap foreign labor, while masking layoffs and wage suppression as ‘shortages.'

Roy criticized the H-1B visa's nearly forty-year history, asserting that it has enabled employers to routinely sideline American STEM workers for cheaper foreign labor, while masking layoffs and wage suppression under the guise of "shortages." Furthermore, Roy's bill specifically targets the end of Optional Practical Training (OPT), a program that serves as a pathway for college students into the job market. Recent investigations by U.S. authorities have uncovered alleged OPT-related fraud, with over 10,000 students linked to suspicious employers, including cases involving empty offices and shell companies.

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It’s time to end this lottery-based pipeline and replace it with a system that prioritizes merit, enforces real wage standards, and puts America’s white-collar workers first.