Do you think that the Donald Trump’s administration is merely obsessed about Obama-era policies? Or it is genuinely concerned that immigrants, particularly H-1B workers are stealing jobs from Americans?
Perhaps, the administration has not recognized the huge contribution employment based visa holders make to the economy. Tech Policy Institute study
The total annual income tax contribution from all H-1B visa holders currently working in the US is upwards of $85 billion.
This is according to study conducted by immigrant-focused financial services company, Stilt.
Stilt Study
It analyzed transaction data from 3,336 loan applications of H-1B visa holders between Jan. 1, 2019 and May 31, 2020.
The average salary of an H-1B visa holder in the US is $118,100. So with a base rate of 24%, they pay $28,344 in taxes each year, according to Stilt.
A chunk of these taxes—7.65% of the annual income, or $27.1 billion per year—go towards benefits such as social security and Medicare. But H-1B holders do not benefit from these programs.
“There’s a great deal of focus on what immigrants (including H-1B visa holders) supposedly take away from the US. But the undeniable truth is that they’re building this country.”
Frank Gogol, content manager at Stilt wrote in the study.
According to Gogol, “Whether it’s creating jobs and leading the charge in the development of new technologies that bolster the US economy, its H-1B visa holders doing the work.”
Spending
Stilt’s data show that from January 2019 to April 2020, the H-1B visa-holders spent an average of $2,130.65 per month in the US.
Annual spending by all H-1B workers in the US exceeds $76 billion.
Government’s cutback on H-1B Visa
President Trump had on June 22 ordered the temporary suspension of new work visas for temporary workers. This includes highly skilled workers (H-1B visa).
Introduced in 1990, the H1B visa was designed to allow United States companies to hire graduate level workers in specific industries that require technical or theoretical expertise in specialized areas of industry.
But H-1B visa holders have paid much more in taxes than they’ve received in federal benefits since then.
H-1B workers buy American goods and services, but they also support ventures. And the average investment of an H-1B visa-holder into businesses in the US is $4,025.09 annually, according to Stilt study.
