Proposal to Protect Skilled American Workers Through Visa Reform

By Jobs Now Founding Team • Published on September 15

Executive Summary

  • H-1B and PERM programs are being systematically abused: Major companies are using discriminatory recruitment practices to avoid hiring qualified Americans for entry-level positions, with DOL reports showing non-compliance and fraud across employment visa programs.
  • Expand H-1B labor market testing: Require more companies to prove they recruited Americans first, update prevailing wage calculations to reflect regional variations, and implement mandatory audits with significant penalties for violations.
  • Modernize PERM recruitment requirements: Force companies to post jobs on their main websites and mainstream job boards (LinkedIn, Indeed), accept digital applications, and use general recruiting staff rather than immigration-only processes.
  • Curtail OPT visa programs: Introduce limits to the OPT and STEM OPT programs that allow foreign students to fill entry-level positions that American college graduates could be able to fulfill.
  • Add financial disincentives for immigrant hiring: Introduce a 15% additional payroll tax on H-1B holders and require labor market tests for all H-1B positions to make American workers the cheaper option.

Why is there a problem?

Public databases show that immigrants are commonly being sponsored by major companies for fairly common & unspecialized jobs that many Americans would be qualified & eager to do; jobs like entry level software engineers, accountants, marketing and financial analysts that generally require a university education but whose skills can often be learned “on the job” and a key part of our middle class.

For example, the country's largest H1B employer, Amazon, has over 7000 applications in 2024, and 45% of these roles paid under $150 thousand dollars. Their most common H1B job title was “Software engineer II” - a role whose title makes it clear it is only 1 step above entry level. These results demonstrate that for the biggest, most well-known (and also desirable) H1B employers, it is extremely common to use H1Bs to fill early career roles that do not require extensive specialized experience. 

Within the employment-based green card program (EB-2 and EB-3 visas), the existing DOL regulations are outdated and prone to fraud and abuse. As recently as 2020 the DOL conducted an inspector general’s report showing that there were persistent vulnerabilities across many employment based visa programs including PERM, H1B, H-2A, and H-2B. The DOL report clearly stated that “The PERM program relentlessly has employers not complying with the qualifying criteria. Therefore, the PERM and H-1B programs remain highly susceptible to fraud.”

Specifically, during PERM labor market tests, it has become common industry practice for employers to rig the recruitment process to avoid finding qualified US workers. Employers abuse the minimum PERM recruitment process of posting ads only on the state workforce agency and in 2 newspapers, which are not common job recruitment for professional jobs in 2025. Multiple leading tech companies have already settled with the DOJ as a result of lawsuits for discriminating against American citizens during PERM labor market tests.

Both Apple in 2023 and Facebook in 2021 had similar patterns of behavior during PERM labor market tests:

  • They did not list postings on their websites (unlike other non-PERM roles)
  • They required applications by postal mail only
  • They did not follow the same recruiting processes as for normal open roles

As a result of these unusual practices, very few or no Americans noticed or successfully applied for PERM roles. The DOJ alleged in these lawsuits that these practices constituted discrimination against American applicants & a preference for foreign workers, in violation of the Immigration & Nationality Act.

Despite the two lawsuits, other major companies appear to still be conducting PERM labor market tests using the same discriminatory practices cited by DOJ. Newspaper classified listings across the country are filled weekly with numerous ads from public companies and major VC-funded entities like Instacart, ADM, and OpenAI requesting postal mail applications, and job listings that do not appear on the company websites. A quick review of the local classified section in virtually any major city will show dozens of large companies advertising PERM positions in manipulative & potentially discriminatory ways intended to avoid applications from American citizens (See exhibits 1-4 for examples).

Exhibit 1: San Francisco Chronicle Classified Section, August 10, 2025 (Instacart)

Exhibit 2: San Francisco Chronicle Classified Section, March 23, 2025 (OpenAI)

Exhibit 3: Chicago Tribune Classified Section, August 17, 2025 (ADM)

Exhibit 4: Atlanta Journal-Constitution Classified Section, September 7, 2025 (V2Software Technologies)

Employment for college graduates is under threat due to the changing labor market in 2025. Mainstream publications such as the Wall Street Journal have reported that unemployment for new college grads “is about the highest level in a decade”. American workers, especially young college graduate workers, are struggling to find work despite record-high educational qualifications, which is hurting the economy for Americans.

Potential Regulatory Reforms

We understand the limitations of the legislative process, and we believe there are several impactful steps the government can take through regulatory processes, as a first step before pursuing the needed legislation. We have specific regulatory policy recommendations the Department of Labor could undertake immediately below, listed by visa type:

  • H1B: 
  • Expand the “H-1B dependent employer” attestation rules to the widest possible set of companies, to require companies to prove they tried to recruit Americans before hiring immigrant workers. This must be done in conjunction with reform & modernization of the labor market test rules as described under PERM, to avoid rigging the tests with anti-American practices.
  • Update prevailing wage calculations to reflect regional and skill-level variations accurately.
  • Include real-time wage benchmarking to prevent underpayment of Americans in the same role.
  • Require companies to demonstrate that immigrant workers are not displacing higher-paid American employees.
  • Include mandatory audits, random inspections, and significant penalties for misrepresenting recruitment efforts or failing to follow PERM/H1B regulations.
  • Implement verification of job offers and company legitimacy checks.
  • Introduce a whistleblower mechanism for employees to report abuse or displacement of American workers.


  • PERM:
  • Require companies to post all job ads on their main career website and accept applications digitally through the same platform when attempting to demonstrate that no qualified American workers are available for a position.
  • Do not allow certification for recruitment conducted only via paper mail, fax, or email to specialized drop boxes used only by immigration-related staff.
  • Require PERM labor market test applications be reviewed by general recruiting staff according to the same process as all other hiring. 
  • Require posting labor market tests ads on mainstream online job boards like Linkedin, Indeed, Ziprecruiter, Glassdoor, or Monster.
  • Introduce random audits of labor certifications to review applications by American citizens for PERM labor market tests to ensure they were not unfairly disqualified for open roles.
  • OPT:
  • Place numerical limits on OPT and STEM OPT statutory visa programs, which allow foreign students to fill entry-level jobs American college graduates could fill - we believe the numbers from pre-2008 (around 25K) should allow America to retain talent while protecting the labor market for inexperienced hires.

Potential Legislative Reforms

We also believe there are significant legislative changes that Congress should advance to protect American workers from unfair competition from immigrants.

  • H1B: 
  • Add a labor market test requirement for this visa, to ensure that companies consider Americans first for all jobs in America. 
  • Introduce a new, 15% additional payroll tax applied to only H1B and other immigration visa holders. This will ensure immigrant workers are always more expensive than American workers, and never used to lower American wages.

We call on President Trump, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and Congress and to act immediately to Make American Jobs Great Again by fixing employment visa regulations and laws!