New Delhi: Indian-origin US presidential aspirant Vivek Ramaswamy promised to end the H-1B visa programme, calling it a form of "indentured servitude." He has vowed to “gut” the lottery-based system and replace it with meritocratic admission if he wins the race to the White House in 2024.


The H-1B visa, primarily used by Indian IT professional services, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.


Ramaswamy has himself used the visa programme 29 times. From 2018 through 2023, US Citizenship and Immigration Services approved 29 applications for Ramaswamy’s former company, Roivant Sciences, to hire employees under H-1B visas, Politico reported.


Yet, the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur told Politico that the H-1B system is "bad for everyone involved."


“The lottery system needs to be replaced by actual meritocratic admission. It’s a form of indentured servitude that only accrues to the benefit of the company that sponsored an H-1B immigrant. I’ll gut it,” Ramaswamy said in a statement, adding that the US needs to eliminate chain-based migration.


“The people who come as family members are not the meritocratic immigrants who make skills-based contributions to this country.”









Ramaswamy resigned from his position as CEO of Roivant in February 2021, yet he retained his role as the chairman of the company's board of directors until February of this year when he declared his candidacy for the presidency.









However, Ramaswamy acknowledged his own experience with immigration during his opening remarks at the first Republican debate in Milwaukee.


“My parents came to this country with no money 40 years ago,” he said. “I have gone on to found multi-billion-dollar companies,” reported Politico.


H-1B visas remain in high demand, with an ongoing increase in the need for these skilled workers in the US. For fiscal year 2021, US businesses submitted 780,884 applications for just 85,000 available slots, jumping by more than 60 per cent.


Every year, the US gives 65,000 H-1B visas which are open to all, and 20,000 to those with advanced US degrees.