Riley Moore’s H-1B Numbers, Checked: The Visa Count Holds Up, the Graduate Count and the ‘Family of 10’ Do Not

Rep. Riley Moore says H-1B workers are replacing American computer science graduates. Against federal data, his count of H-1B workers is in the right range, his count of graduates is roughly four times the official number, and his claim about family members has no support.

Rep. Riley Moore, a West Virginia Republican, said on Oct. 16 that the H-1B and Optional Practical Training programs are “SCAMS” that replace American workers with cheap foreign labor, pointing to about 650,000 Americans who earned computer science degrees and “the 500k H1B visa holders who are mostly from China and India.” Checked against Education Department, USCIS and State Department figures, the claim pairs one reasonable estimate with a graduate count far above the official tally, and it compares a single year of graduates with a workforce built up over many years.

The numbers matter because they are entering a policy fight that is already moving. Since August the administration has proposed a $103,265 H-1B fee, ordered agencies to weigh employers’ layoffs in H-1B cases, suspended green card filings by Microsoft and other employers, and, on Oct. 14, proposed ending deference to prior approvals on extensions. Figures like Moore’s tend to resurface in public comments and campaign ads, stripped of the context that changes what they mean.

Moore’s four figures against the public record

It is not clear how Moore reached 650,000. The federal degree counts come nowhere near it for a single year, and the coverage of his remarks did not explain his basis.

A one-year flow set against a multiyear stock

The bigger problem is the comparison itself. The H-1B population is a stock: workers can hold the status for six years, longer if a green card case is pending, and they work in many occupations beyond computing. Graduates are an annual flow. A closer like-for-like measure is new H-1B approvals. USCIS approved more than 386,000 H-1B petitions in fiscal 2023, but about 69 percent were for continuing employment, such as extensions and job changes, which leaves roughly 120,000 initial approvals, based on the CRS figures. That is fewer than the 162,631 computer science degrees awarded in a single recent year, and not all of those initial approvals were for computer jobs.

The family claim, which Moore made in a Salem News Channel interview, according to The Federal, runs into the statute. H-4 status is available only to an H-1B worker’s spouse and minor children, under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H). Parents, siblings and adult children have no H-4 route. The State Department issued about 0.64 H-4 visas for every H-1B visa in fiscal 2024, a calculation from its own counts. Visa issuance misses people who change status inside the country.

Where his argument has support

Moore’s broader concern about young computer science graduates is not invented. In the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s annual data on recent college graduates by major, drawn from the most recent American Community Survey year, unemployment among computer science majors stood near 7.0 percent and among computer engineering majors near 7.8 percent, against 4.2 percent for all recent graduates. Those figures show a weak entry-level market. They do not, on their own, show that H-1B hiring caused it.

Employers argue the opposite. Microsoft President Brad Smith told Politico this week that the administration’s H-1B and green card restrictions could drive top AI talent out of the United States, according to The Economic Times.

The practical effect of exchanges like this one is on the record agencies build. DHS must respond to significant public comments before finalizing the fee and deference proposals, and a rule resting on figures that do not hold up is easier to challenge in court. For either side, the numbers that carry weight are the ones that measure the same thing over the same period.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.

Sources

• The Federal: US Congressman Riley Moore calls H-1B, OPT programmes ‘scams’ (Oct. 17, 2026)
• Hindustan Times: US Congressman claims H-1B holders from India, China replacing American graduates (Oct. 17, 2026)
• National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, Table 318.20 (degrees conferred, 2021-22)
• USCIS: H-1B Authorized-to-Work Population Estimate (as of Sept. 30, 2019)
• Congressional Research Service: The H-1B Visa for Specialty Occupation Workers, IF12912 (fiscal 2023 USCIS data)
• Congressional Research Service: Nonimmigrant and Immigrant Visa Categories, Data Brief, R45938 (fiscal 2024 State Department issuance data)
• 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H) (H-4 family members)
• Federal Reserve Bank of New York: The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates
• The Economic Times: Microsoft president warns Trump’s H-1B, green card crackdown could drive tech talent out of US (Oct. 16, 2026)
• Federal Register: Removing Deference to Prior USCIS Determinations of Eligibility (Oct. 14, 2026)

About the Author

Vasanth Vaidyanathan, Esq.

Administrator

Vasanth Vaidyanathan is an immigration attorney with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on U.S. immigration and nationality law. He holds a LL.M. from California Western School of Law, San Deigo and advises individuals and businesses on employment and family-based immigration matters, including H-1B, PERM, EB categories, and adjustment of status. He has also been a featured speaker at immigration seminars across the U.S. To reach Vasanth visit: https://www.vnathan.com/

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