Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene says she will introduce legislation to completely eliminate the H-1B visa program, a move that could have sweeping implications for Indian professionals who make up more than 70 per cent of all H-1B recipients in recent years. Greene’s bill would shut down the decades-old program, which has long served as a key pathway for skilled foreign workers to obtain U.S. permanent residency and eventually citizenship.
In a video posted on X, Greene claimed the H-1B system is “riddled with fraud and abuse” and has been “displacing American workers for decades.” Her proposal would scrap the entire program with only one narrow exemption — a temporary annual cap of 10,000 visas for doctors and nurses who provide life-saving medical care. Even that exemption, she said, would be phased out over 10 years.
To accelerate the U.S.-only pipeline of medical professionals, Greene’s bill would ban Medicare-funded residency programs from admitting non-citizen medical graduates. She argued that thousands of U.S. medical graduates fail to secure residency placements while foreign-trained doctors secure positions, calling the situation “entirely unfair.”
Greene also said her bill would end the pathway to citizenship for all H-1B holders by barring adjustment to permanent residency, forcing workers to return to their home countries once their visas expire. She framed the proposal as restoring the “original intent” of the H-1B program as a temporary fix for specialty labour shortages, not a long-term immigration route.
“This is America first,” she said. “It’s time to put American citizens first instead of foreigners.”
What the H-1B Program Currently Does
The H-1B visa allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations, with an annual cap of 65,000 regular visas and an extra 20,000 for advanced U.S. degree holders. Tech companies have been among the largest users of the program, citing shortages of high-skill talent.
For thousands of Indian engineers, IT specialists, and STEM workers, the H-1B has long been the primary route to a U.S. green card and ultimately citizenship.
Context: Trump’s Mixed Signals
The bill comes even as President Donald Trump has shifted tone on immigration in recent weeks. Although his administration has launched a major crackdown on perceived H-1B abuse — including the introduction of a $100,000 supplemental fee for certain petitions filed after Sept. 21, 2025 — Trump recently acknowledged that the U.S. still “needs to bring in talent” for highly specialized sectors, particularly defence and advanced technology.
Despite this softening, Greene’s proposal appeals to the hardline wing of the Republican base and adds pressure to ongoing debates about skilled immigration and labour shortages.
Impact If Passed
Greene’s bill would:
- Abolish the H-1B program entirely
- Eliminate the path to green cards for existing H-1B workers
- Force all visa holders to leave the U.S. after expiry
- Cap medical professional visas at 10,000 per year, phased out over 10 years
- Ban foreign medical graduates from Medicare-funded residency programs
While the bill faces significant political hurdles and is unlikely to pass in its current form, it highlights a renewed push by some Republicans to dismantle or heavily restrict skilled worker immigration — a shift that would be felt most acutely by India’s large pool of STEM talent.
Greene insists the goal is to give Americans “their chance at the American dream,” but business leaders, universities, and technology companies are expected to strongly oppose any move to abolish the H-1B system entirely.