Shareholder activists are preparing to challenge Meta Platforms Inc. at its annual meeting this week, targeting the tech giant’s extensive use of the H-1B visa program. Representing the Free Enterprise Project (FEP)—an initiative of the National Center for Public Policy Research—activists plan to introduce Proposal 12, which alleges that the current visa system creates a system of “indentured servanthood” for foreign nationals while actively discriminating against qualified American workers.
The debate centers on how major tech firms staff their engineering and development teams. FEP Executive Director Steve Milloy is scheduled to present the proposal, directly challenging the long-standing industry narrative that domestic talent pools are insufficient to meet the demands of modern technology companies.
“Meta and other Big Tech companies have repeatedly claimed there is a desperate shortage of skilled American workers,” Milloy will say, according to advanced remarks. “They insist H-1B visas are the only way to get the ‘best and the brightest.’ But the numbers say otherwise. The program is not about filling genuine gaps. It is a mechanism for employers to obtain cheap, immobile labor that undercuts U.S. workers and distorts the labor market.”
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According to the proposal, the vast majority of H-1B visa holders are not rare specialists, but rather young professionals performing everyday technical tasks. The FEP points out that many visa recipients are international students graduating from American universities, meaning they enter the market competing directly against their domestic classmates for entry-level and mid-level roles.
The activist group argues that the core incentive for the program is corporate cost-cutting rather than a lack of available talent. The proposal alleges that companies achieve these savings by paying visa holders below standard market rates for American workers, and by replacing older, more experienced domestic engineers with cheaper, younger foreign labor.
Furthermore, the resolution argues that the structure of the H-1B program inherently disadvantages the visa holders themselves. Because an H-1B visa binds a worker’s legal residency status directly to a single sponsoring employer, the FEP contends that these employees are left with virtually no workplace leverage or bargaining power.
“Ironically, even the H-1B holders lose. Because their legal status is tied to a single employer, they function as de facto indentured servants with little bargaining power,” Milloy’s statement reads. “Let’s make America great again by paying Americans market wages rather than foreigners working on the cheap just to stay in America. Capitalism is great. We are big champions of it. But when capitalism becomes a race to the bottom, it becomes penny-wise and pound foolish.”
Meta shareholders have the opportunity to vote on Proposal 12 via proxy ahead of the official annual meeting, which is scheduled to take place this Wednesday.
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