Newyork - Indian-American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has pledged to overhaul the H-1B visa program, which is highly sought after by Indian IT professionals, should he win the 2024 presidential race. Describing the H-1B system as "indentured servitude," Ramaswamy intends to replace the lottery-based process with a meritocratic admission system.

Technology companies, including his former company Roivant Sciences, rely on the H-1B visa program to hire thousands of employees from countries like India and China. Despite having used the visa program 29 times himself, Ramaswamy argues that the current system is detrimental to all parties involved.

Ramaswamy insists on replacing the lottery system with a merit-based admission process, aiming to eliminate chain-based migration. He believes that family-based immigrants do not contribute to the country in the same skill-based manner as meritocratic immigrants.

While questions have arisen about the alignment of his policy stance with his past business practices, Ramaswamy's press secretary emphasizes his commitment to fixing a broken system. Ramaswamy, the child of immigrants, has gained attention for his restrictive immigration policy agenda, including using military force to secure the border and deporting US-born children of undocumented immigrants.

H-1B visas remain in high demand, with applications far outnumbering available slots. Ramaswamy's stance on H-1B visas recalls the 2016 Trump campaign's initial hardline stance on foreign workers, despite Trump's own history of hiring H-1B visa holders for his businesses. As president, Trump implemented temporary work visa suspensions and restrictions on foreign workers.

The US grants 65,000 H-1B visas annually to all applicants and an additional 20,000 to those with advanced US degrees. In July, Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi introduced a bill to double the annual intake of highly skilled foreign workers on H-1B visas, aiming to expand opportunities for American employers in critical technology sectors and diversify the recipients of these visas, as the majority currently go to Indian professionals.