US: H-1B Visa Holders Make Among The Highest Salaries

According to new evidence, H-1B visa holders in the US are among the highest paid workers. US workers earned about $45,000 in 2021, and the top 10% earned about $102,000.

Among the top 10% of US wage earners, the median wage for H‑1B worker in 2021 was about $108,000, well over double the median wage for all US workers, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

This new evidence was brought to light by David J Bier, a research fellow at US think tank Cato Institute.

"Opponents of the H‑1B visa often claim that H‑1B employers “pay low wages.", but the latest wage data prove how ridiculous this claim is.

H‑1B workers are highly paid: their wages are in the 90% of all wages in the US; they have wages in the top 10 percent of US wage earners. H‑1B workers are not low wage or “cheap" workers in any honest assessment of the meaning of those words," he said in a blog post.

"If H‑1B employers could just pay whatever they want—as opponents claim — these increases would not be happening, Bier said.

"DHS held its annual lottery last week to allocate the 85,000 cap‐ subject H‑1B temporary work visas for high skilled foreign workers."