{
  "id": 8515050,
  "title": "Welcome tighter H-1B scrutiny, but not at the cost of American innovation: FIIDS",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/19/welcome-tighter-h-1b-scrutiny-but-not-at-the-cost-of-american",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-19T19:09:50.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Hindustan Times - World News",
    "slug": "hindustan-times-world-news",
    "url": "https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/welcome-tighter-h-1b-scrutiny-but-not-at-the-cost-of-american-innovation-fiids-101789844991123.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) has welcomed the recent tightening of H-1B visa scrutiny by the US administration, but warned that such measures should not impede American innovation. FIIDS stressed that highly specialized skills often cannot be sourced domestically and that it is essential to protect American workers while allowing companies to attract exceptional talent.\n\nFIIDS' Chief of Policy and Strategy, Khanderao Kand, expressed support for the administration's goal of safeguarding American interests and addressing H-1B program abuse. However, Kand emphasized that the US's reputation as a global innovation hub depends on a transparent, predictable framework for compliant employers and legal immigrants. He urged that reforms should focus on penalizing corporations and body shops that abuse the visa system, rather than unfairly penalizing law-abiding immigrants who contribute significantly to American innovation.\n\nAjay Bhutoria, a former advisor to President Joe Biden, reiterated that federal oversight should target bad actors, not legitimate immigrants. Bhutoria stressed that fair play for American workers and legal immigrants must be maintained, and that reforms should not unfairly target immigrants but instead hold corporations accountable for wage suppression and worker displacement.\n\nThe expert highlighted that in fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced semiconductors, cloud infrastructure, and specialized data engineering, US employers face genuine skills gaps that cannot be filled quickly from the domestic labor pool. Kand argued that the US will remain strongest by protecting workers from exploitation, rewarding compliant employers, investing in domestic talent, and retaining the capability to attract global innovators.\n\nFIIDS called for a merit-based, transparent system with rigorous anti-fraud enforcement, meaningful consequences for bad actors, strong wage and recruitment safeguards, substantial investment in domestic education and training, and a lawful avenue for employers to hire global talent when necessary. The FIIDS official urged for evidence-based implementation focused on demonstrable misconduct rather than broad assumptions based solely on company headcount or visa usage.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [
    "US tightens H-1B visa scrutiny, warns against stifling innovation",
    "FIIDS stresses need for transparent, predictable framework for compliant employers",
    "Reform should target bad actors, not legitimate immigrants contributing to innovation"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}