Tennessee took in the 16th most H-1B workers during the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024.
This FY year went from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024.
In the state, 609 employers hired 4,649 H-1B workers approved for FY 2024.
The federal government has a cap of 85,000 foreign workers for this program.
“H-1B program applies to employers seeking to hire nonimmigrant aliens as workers in specialty occupations or as fashion models of distinguished merit and ability,” the Department of Labor website says.
The top employers were Cummins Inc., UT-Battelle LLC, UBS Business Solutions US LLC, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the University of Tennessee.
The federal government has a cap of 85,000 foreign workers for this program.
Compared to FY 2023, it is similar. FY 2024, there are only seven more H-1B workers in the state. Eight fewer companies used the H-1B system in 2023.
Tennessee companies used the H-1B workers less than five years ago.
A total of 474 employers brought in 3,926 H-1B workers during FY 2019.
In the 2014 FY, Tennessee employers used this program to hire 2,606 workers. A total of 447 employers brought over these workers.
This means that there has been a 78 percent increase in foreign workers being brought to Tennessee under the H-1B program.
The top employer in all of these FYs 2014, 2019, 2023 and 2024 was Cummins Inc., a global engineering company based out of Columbus, Indiana.
According to the Daily Caller News Foundation, tech companies have laid thousands of American workers off to be replaced by foreign workers.
Amazon, Google, and Microsoft laid off 55,000 Americans, and then these companies replaced them with 61,000 foreign workers since 2022.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the top 30 employers hire 40 percent of the H-1B workers.
In December, the Biden administration announced changes to the H-1B workers program.
“American businesses rely on the H-1B visa program for the recruitment of highly-skilled talent, benefitting communities across the country,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. “These improvements to the program provide employers with greater flexibility to hire global talent, boost our economic competitiveness, and allow highly skilled workers to continue to advance American innovation.”
President-elect Donald Trump has also expressed his support for the H-1B program.
“I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” Trump told The New York Post on Tuesday.
“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” added Trump.
In his first term, Trump tried to tighten the rules on the H-1B program.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at zschmidt1717@gmail.com. Follow Zachery on Twitter @zacheryschmidt2.
