(José Niño, Headline USA) A fresh analysis of federal visa records suggests that H-1B sponsorship has evolved into something resembling a self-sustaining side hustle, according to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies.
The scheme works as follows: An H-1B holder forms a company, sponsors their own visa through it, then extends sponsorship to friends and relatives. Bloomberg’s dataset of H-1B records indicates this pattern occurs at considerable scale nationwide.
This tactic isn’t entirely new. H-1B holders have long been able to form American companies and use them to bring in additional family and acquaintances through further visa sponsorship. What changed is that a Biden era regulation, the H-1B modernization rule finalized late in his term, explicitly permits foreign nationals to establish businesses and sponsor themselves for H-1B status and related benefits. Critics note this stands among numerous Biden regulations that fueled immigration disorder, rules the Trump administration has inexplicably left untouched.
The 2024 visa data paints a striking picture across various zip codes. In Celina, Texas, every single approved H-1B visa (21 of 21) listed a residential address as the worksite. Aldie, Virginia showed 150 of 151 approved visas tied to homes, while Jersey City recorded 172 of 181. Charlotte, North Carolina saw 14 of 15 approved petitions linked to residential addresses, and Wylie, Texas showed 12 of 13.
In a similar vein, Cary, North Carolina registered 43 of 54, Aubrey, Texas showed 21 of 27, and Frisco, Texas recorded 95 of 156. Additional clusters appeared in Cumming, Georgia (42 of 110), Santa Clara, California (106 of 463), and Milpitas, California (75 of 324), among numerous other locations nationwide.
These figures represent selected examples rather than an exhaustive count, since confirming residential status requires manually checking each address individually.
Suspicious worksite patterns weren’t invisible before now. Labor Condition Application data published for decades by the Department of Labor hinted at similar irregularities, though that dataset never mapped cleanly onto individual visa approvals. Bloomberg’s compilation changes that by directly linking worksites to the specific H-1B petitions USCIS actually approved.
Most flagged residences had just a single approved visa tied to them in the year examined, though determining whether the same address served as a worksite across multiple years would require further digging. Certain homes, however, hosted well over 100 approved visas, sometimes spanning several different sponsoring employers at once.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
