Tech industry executive challenges corporate reliance on H-1B visa workers

### Debate Grows Over H-1B and OPT Use in U.S. Technology Workforces

A growing debate over employment-based immigration and technology hiring in the United States has drawn attention to how companies combine domestic workers, visa holders and offshore teams to staff technology operations.

The discussion gained visibility after Hany Girgis, co-owner and chairman of technology workforce company SkillStorm, commented on the concentration of H-1B visa holders and workers using other immigration pathways within individual technology teams.

Girgis highlighted a widely shared account from an industry insider who claimed that 67 of 70 employees on a technology team at a U.S. company were foreign visa holders. According to the account, only three American workers were part of the on-site team in a Midwestern city.

The post further alleged that the team included workers from particular regions of India, while another 50 employees were working offshore from India.

The claims have fueled questions about how employment-based visa programs affect staffing patterns within specific occupations, rather than their overall share of the U.S. labor market.

Girgis focused particularly on H-1B visas and Optional Practical Training, or OPT, arguing that examining their aggregate numbers may not fully capture their concentration within particular technology departments and job categories.

“Three Americans. 67 visa workers. Plus another 50 workers offshore in India,” Girgis wrote in a post on X.

He questioned how frequently positions such as software development, quality assurance, business analysis and project management are being filled through visa programs while qualified U.S. technology workers remain available after layoffs.

Girgis also argued that companies can use different workforce channels for different operational purposes. In his characterization, H-1B workers can support longer-term staffing requirements, OPT can provide access to international graduates, and offshore teams can allow companies to expand technical operations outside the United States.

The comments have added to a broader discussion over whether employment-based immigration programs are primarily addressing specialized labor shortages or are increasingly becoming part of corporate workforce-management strategies.

SkillStorm, the company led by Girgis, describes itself as a technology workforce provider that trains, certifies and places IT professionals with government organizations and private-sector companies. Its operations include work with large corporations and universities.

The company has emphasized the development of domestic technology talent and efforts to address skills shortages, placing its leadership in an ongoing national conversation about technology employment and workforce development.

Supporters of employment-based immigration argue that international professionals can help U.S. companies address specialized skills shortages and maintain competitiveness in technology and other high-skilled industries.

Critics, meanwhile, contend that extensive reliance on temporary or employment-based foreign workers can increase competition for some domestic technology positions and potentially affect wages and career opportunities.

The debate also reflects a larger transformation in the technology labor market, where companies increasingly operate through combinations of U.S.-based employees, international visa holders and offshore teams.

The specific 67-of-70 staffing claim remains an individual account rather than independently established evidence of broader industry-wide hiring patterns.

Nevertheless, the discussion has renewed attention on a question that is increasingly central to immigration and technology workforce policy: how visa programs and international outsourcing interact with the composition of individual U.S. technology teams.