How H-1B Visas Work and Why They’re Back in Headlines: QuickTake

Migrants who enter the US uninvited at the nation’s southern border dominate the political debate over immigration. But there’s a fight as well over tens of thousands of people who enter the US legally every year as part of a visa program, known as H-1B, largely designed to attract guest workers with science, math or computer skills. Technology and engineering companies say they need more of those workers, but they’ve faced opposition from critics on the political right and left who say the program takes good jobs from Americans.

1. What exactly is the H-1B visa program?

It’s one ...