Vivek Ramaswamy vows to 'gut' H1-B visas, which his firm had used, if he becomes US president

Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican hopeful in the race for the White House, has promised to make significant changes to the H-1B temporary worker visa system if elected.This is a notable pledge considering that he has utilised this very system to hire highly skilled foreign workers for his pharmaceutical company, Roivant Sciences, which contributed substantially to his wealth.

Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, in a conversation with Politico, said that if he comes to power he will work towards gutting the H-1B visa system. He told the media outlet, “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,” he said in a statement, adding that the U.S. needs to eliminate chain-based migration.

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“The people who come as family members are not the meritocratic immigrants who make skills-based contributions to this country," he added.He founded his pharma Roivant Sciences in 2014.

The data quoted by Politico suggested that from 2018 to 2023, Roivant Sciences hired employees under H1-B visas. The application was approved by US Citizenship and Immigration Services.H1-B visa allows employers in the US to recruit foreign workers with specialised skills to work in the country.

The system is “bad for everyone involved,” Ramaswamy told Politico.

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Ramaswamy's press secretary Tricia McLaughlin, speaking over Ramaswamy's take on policies, said, the role of a policymaker “is to do what’s right for a country overall: the system is broken and needs to be fixed.”

“Vivek believes that regulations overseeing the US energy sector are badly broken, but he still uses water and electricity,” McLaughlin said adding, “This is the same.” Ramaswamy stepped down as CEO of Roivant in February 2021 but remained the chair of the company's board of directors until February this year when he launched his presidential campaign.

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As of March 31, 2023, Roivant and its subsidiaries employed 904 full-time workers, with 825 of them based in the United States, as reported in SEC filings.

Ramaswamy, himself a child of immigrants, has gained attention for his restrictive immigration policy proposals within the GOP.

While some of his ideas align with traditional Republican positions, he has at times taken a more aggressive approach. He calls for replacing lottery-based visas, such as H-1B worker visas, with a "meritocratic" admission system.

Additionally, he has voiced support for using military force to secure the US border and has advocated for the deportation of US-born children of undocumented immigrants, as per media reports.

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