The Number of Immigrant Workers With H1-B Visas Drops the Most in a Decade

(Bloomberg) -- The number of applications filed for foreign high-tech workers on H-1B visas dropped the most in at least a decade this year in the U.S. amid travel and visa restrictions, even as job openings in the industry reached record highs.

U.S. employers’ preliminary applications submitted for engineering and mathematics jobs under the H-1B visa program fell 12.6% in the fiscal year ending September 2021 compared to the previous year, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

It was the second consecutive annual decline for a segment of the workforce that has historically seen consistent growth in demand.

The drop was largely due to a significant slowdown in visa processing during lock downs and tightened immigration policies stemming from the pandemic, according to immigration lawyers and experts.

Compared with pre-Covid levels in 2019, this year’s application cases were down 19% for the engineering and mathematics job category.

“Since March 2020, the processing of any new visas has been dramatically slowed and almost halted by travel restrictions,” said Giovanni Peri, a professor of economics at the University of California, Davis. Some jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, may be lost in the visa crunch for good as remote work could offshore them outside of the U.S., according to Peri. 

Many U.S. visa processing locations have resumed at a slowed pace after an abrupt suspension across all embassies and consulates in 2020. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden allowed a Trump-era ban on H-1B visas to expire. 

The H-1B visa program allows U.S. employers to hire high-skilled foreign workers for jobs in specialty fields like coding and engineering. The tech industry in particular relies on the program to ease worker shortages. Engineering and mathematics jobs make up the vast majority of H-1B visas issued. 

Applications for new H-1B visa don’t always result in actual hiring. Employers need to make submissions for foreign workers on existing H-1B visas when they transfer roles within the same field, change companies or extend their visas. These certifications make up a broader measure of job activity within the data set.

This combined metric for all job categories totaled more than 497,000 during fiscal year 2021, a 9% decrease from 2020 and 17% decline from 2019. The data Bloomberg News analyzed dates back to 2011. 

The contraction in H-1B STEM activity indicates the field of technology wasn’t immune to the disruptions caused by Covid-19, although it was hit to a lesser extent compared with other industries, said immigration attorney Nandini Nair, a partner at Greenspoon Marder.

STEM jobs experienced record layoffs in March and April last year. But the sector recovered quickly and experienced lower unemployment during the pandemic than other industries. There were a record 230,000 job openings in the information sector in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“What we’re seeing right now is a resurgence in hiring across the board whether it would be for those sponsorships or not. I do expect there to be an up tick as we pull out of the pandemic,” said Shannon Donnelly, a partner at Morgan Lewis.

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