‘H-1B Workers Are Underpaid And Vulnerable To Abuse’: US Think Tank Releases Report, Recommends Improved Wages

A report released by US-based think tank South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council has revealed that immigrants working with an H-1B visa are often employed at places with poor working conditions, and are vulnerable to abuse while also being underpaid, reports Mint.

The report calls for safeguards to be introduced to change status quo, such as ensuring fair working conditions and more employment rights for H-1B workers. This release of information comes in wake of US President Donald Trump’s recent statement saying, reforms giving certainty and an easy path to citizenship for H-1B visa holders will soon be rolled out.

“H1-B holders in the United States can rest assured that changes are soon coming which will bring both simplicity and certainty to your stay, including a potential path to citizenship. We want to encourage talented and highly skilled people to pursue career options in the US,” Trump had tweeted on Friday (11 January).

The authors of the report are Ron Hira of Howard University and head of the South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council Bharath Gopalaswamy. They have asserted that the present system is harmful to Americans as well as H-1B workers, who face exploitation under it.

The report recommended improving wages paid to H-1B workers as the first measure to help them, stating, “The first, and most important, reform is to substantially raise the wages of H-1B workers. If the United States is going to invite in the “best and brightest” workers, they ought to be paid in the top quartile.”