Republicans continue to target the H-1B visa even after US President Donald Trump defended the non-immigrant programme that allows employers in the United States to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said she is set to introduce a bill to “completely eliminate” the H-1B visa programme and take away the pathway to citizenship that it offers, “forcing” immigrants to “return home” when their visa expires.
The H-1B visa programme paves a pathway to American citizenship through the Green Card route. Companies can apply for permanent residency for their H-1B employees, who can apply for US citizenship five years after receiving their green cards.
If passed, Greene’s bill will bode ill for Indian professionals, who are the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa program, accounting for over 70 per cent of all approved applications in recent years, largely due to a large pool of skilled professionals in STEM fields and strong economic opportunities in the US.
What The Bill Says
“My dear fellow Americans, I’m introducing a bill to completely eliminate the H-1B visa programme, which has been riddled with fraud and abuse and has been displacing American workers for decades,” Greene, who is a congresswoman from Georgia, said in a video posted on X on Thursday.
She said that there will only be one exemption in her bill, which will allow for a 10,000 per year cap on visas issued to medical professionals like doctors and nurses who provide life-saving care to Americans.
Greene, however, noted that even this 10,000 per year cap will be “phased out” over 10 years to “allow us time to build our own pipeline of American doctors and physicians.”
In order to build the country’s pipeline of American doctors and medical professionals, Greene said that her bill will prohibit Medicare-funded residency programmes from admitting non-citizen medical students into their programmes.
She noted that last year alone, there were over 9000 doctors in the US who graduated from medical school but were left without a residency placement. Meanwhile, in 2023 alone, there were over 5000 foreign-born doctors who received residency spots, she said.
“This is entirely unfair, and it’s America last. My bill will help mitigate the shortage of doctors and nurses in our country, the shortage that we face while at the same time serve as an off-ramp from our reliance on foreign workers by allowing us time to fill our residency programmes with American doctors,” she said.
The lawmaker added that her bill will also “take away the pathway to citizenship, forcing visa holders to return home when their visa expires.” She further said that the intention of her bill is to restore the “original intent” of the H-1B visa, which was “for it to be temporary.
“These visas were intended to fulfill a specialty occupational need at a given time. People should not be allowed to come and live here forever. We thank them for their expertise, but we also wish them well so they may return to their home country,” she said.
According to Greene, her bill will “completely end the H-1B visa programme and all other sectors in the job force and in the workforce.”
“This is America first. It’s time to put American citizens first instead of foreigners first, and this has been an abuse for far too long. Americans deserve a future. They deserve a chance. And I believe Americans are the most talented people in the world and the most creative, and I want them to have their American dream,” she said.
About H-1B Visa
There is a congressionally mandated cap of 65,000 regular H-1B visas and another 20,000 for US advanced degree holders that are issued per year. US businesses use the H-1B programme to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations.
The Trump administration has launched a massive crackdown to check abuse in the H-1B visa programme which is used by companies, particularly technology companies, to employ foreign workers in the US.
In September this year, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation titled ‘Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers’ as an important initial step to reform the H-1B nonimmigrant visa programme.
Under the Proclamation, certain H-1B petitions filed after September 21, 2025, must be accompanied by an additional USD 100,000 payment as a condition of eligibility.
Chnage In Trump’s Stance
Trump recently softened his stance on his administration’s aggressive immigration reforms, saying America needs to bring in foreign talent for certain fields. The Republican leader acknowledged that long-term unemployed Americans cannot be tasked with complex roles in sensitive sectors like defence without extensive training, and the US needs skilled foreign nationals to fill such roles.
Trump was speaking to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham when he was asked if his administration planned to deprioritise H-1B visas. He replied, “You do have to bring in talent.”
