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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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FedEx is facing backlash after a report by Dallas Express revealed the company was awarded a $2.2 billion federal contract in 2022 and has since hired hundreds of foreign workers on H-1B visas.
However, FedEx told Newsweek, "Our current US-TRANSCOM contract has been in place since 2022. Nothing new was signed or announced as the Dallas Express headline inaccurately states. The contract is a general delivery services contract with the U.S. government known as a Next Generation Delivery Services contract. UPS and DHL also have Next Generation Delivery Services contracts with US-TRANSCOM. We have had delivery service contracts with the U.S. government for more than 30 years."
Kevin Lynn, executive director of the Institute for Sound Public Policy, told Newsweek, "Raj Subramaniam became President and CEO of FedEx on June 1, 2022, after serving as president since 2019. Since that transition, FedEx’s use of the H-1B visa program has increased sharply, with approvals rising from 37 in FY 2021 to 102 in FY 2025—figures that do not account for additional H-1B workers potentially supplied through outsourcing firms that sponsor the visas themselves."
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FedEx sent Newsweek the following statement: "FedEx is committed to offering employees the opportunity to grow and advance in their careers. Doing so helps our team members thrive, and FedEx prosper. Our strategy is centered around recruiting a skilled workforce that meets our unique business needs and hiring the most qualified candidates. Across our business, we employ a wide range of roles, requiring a variety of skillsets and are committed to complying with all applicable federal immigration laws."
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Why It Matters
The report notes that these hires coincided with layoffs of American workers, raising concerns among conservatives.
The Dallas Express investigation noted a significant increase in H-1B visa approvals for positions at FedEx after the supposed contract award, amid broader workforce changes.
Data cited in related reporting suggests the number of H-1B workers associated with FedEx increased from only a few dozen in 2022 to several hundred in 2024 and 2025. Not all visa applications necessarily result in hires, and specific job roles linked to these visas vary by function and location.
What To Know
Federal Express Corporation filed 436 H-1B petitions in fiscal year 2025 linked to its Memphis, Tennessee, operations, resulting in 434 approved beneficiaries, according to data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services H-1B Employer Data Hub. The data reflects visa approvals tied to this single petitioner location and does not specify job titles or indicate whether the positions were newly created roles or replacements for existing workers.
FedEx told Newsweek, "Team members on H-1B visas make up less than .05% of our U.S. workforce. In 2025, we sought fewer than 100 H-1B visas for new hires. These trends are consistent with our regular employment patterns."
Experts reviewing the USCIS Data Hub told Newsweek that while the article claims a significant rise in H-1B hires by FedEx and its affiliates, the data indicate otherwise. In FY2023–FY2025, FedEx companies filed for 702 H-1B workers, compared with 1,274 filings in FY2020–FY2022. This shows a decrease of roughly 500 H-1B hires over the more recent three-year period, experts said.
"They're clearly different types of positions, since you can't get H-1Bs approved for the types of positions that were being laid off, and the data shows that the majority of the H-1Bs that have been hired are in Tennessee, where FedEx has its world headquarters," James Hollis, a U.S. business immigration attorney, told Newsweek.
Meanwhile, FedEx has publicly announced a series of layoffs and facility closures affecting U.S. workers. In late 2025, the company filed a notice with the Texas Workforce Commission that it would eliminate 856 jobs at its FedEx Supply Chain Logistics & Electronics facility in Coppell, Texas.
Additional layoffs and job reductions have occurred at other FedEx locations earlier in the year, including hundreds of positions impacted in Fort Worth and other sites.
FedEx said they weren't related to the H-1B visas, telling Newsweek, "recent FedEx Supply Chain WARN notices impacted team members in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metro area who were hired as part of customer contracts. These were operational roles that are not qualified for H-1B visas."
Are FedEx's H-1B visas linked to American layoffs?
While FedEx’s H-1B hiring has increased in recent years, Newsweek has not seen evidence linking these hires to the company’s layoffs of U.S. workers.
"I'd say there's no link between FedEx hiring H-1Bs and its layoffs. They're not the same positions, they're not in the same area. They seem to be completely unrelated," Hollis said.
"In the environment in which we are currently in the US, people are drawing lines between government contracts, layoffs and immigrants because they want to stir up controversy," he said.
"The fact of the matter is that major U.S. companies need highly technical professionals in areas where they may not be available. The H-1B is a vehicle to do that. The Memphis, Tennessee, area, where I am based, is not a hotbed of software development talent, but these workers that FedEx uses facilitate the employment of thousands of US workers in the region."
FedEx told Newsweek, "In 2024, most FedEx operating companies merged into Federal Express Corporation. Since that time, FedEx has continued to move employees, including H-1B workers, to Federal Express Corporation. As a result, required change in employment status were filed. Thus, we have not had a measurable uptick in H-1B visa holders in 2024 or 2025.
"As a part of our multi-year network transformation strategy to optimize and enhance the pickup, transport, and delivery of packages in the U.S., staff reductions are occurring at certain operations facilities as we move to ae van (sic), one neighborhood approach. The impacted positions do not qualify for H-1B visas."
Support for H-1B visas sharply divides along political lines. MAGA-aligned conservatives generally oppose the program, viewing it as a threat to American workers’ wages and job security.
In contrast, tech moderates tend to support H-1B visas, emphasizing their importance for innovation, competitiveness, and filling specialized skill gaps in the technology sector. Despite these partisan differences, there is a broad consensus across the political spectrum in favor of reforming the H-1B program to make it more efficient, transparent, and aligned with U.S. labor-market needs.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has announced it will overhaul the H-1B visa process, scrapping the traditional lottery system in favor of a new weighted model designed to prioritize high-skilled workers.
The move, slated to take effect in 2027, comes after months of scrutiny over perceived exploitation of the program by employers and growing worries that American jobs are being displaced by foreign labor.
What People Are Saying
A spokesperson for FedEx said in a statement: "FedEx is committed to offering employees the opportunity to grow and advance in their careers. Doing so helps our team members thrive, and FedEx prosper. Our strategy is centered around recruiting a skilled workforce that meets our unique business needs and hiring the most qualified candidates.”
Lynch told Newsweek: "Subramaniam also sits on the board of the U.S.–India Strategic Partnership Forum, an organization focused on expanding commercial and labor ties between the two countries. Participation in such forums tends to align corporate leadership with policies that expand cross-border labor mobility, reinforcing business models that rely on wage arbitrage rather than investment in the domestic workforce."
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Matthew Tragesser said, “The existing random selection process of H-1B registrations was exploited and abused by U.S. employers who were primarily seeking to import foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers,” said
**The Patriot Oasis wrote on X: "**CEO Rajesh 'Raj' Subramaniam, who was born in India, is facing backlash for firing Americans to hire foreigners. Publicly available immigration data shows a SUBSTANTIAL increase in FedEx’s hiring of foreign workers through the H-1B visa program. Some of the listed salaries for these positions being filled by non-Americans range from about $100,000 to $115,000."
Newxmas Host Todd Starnes wrote on X: "A bunch of veteran, well-qualified FedEx workers were laid off and replaced with H1B visa hires. What does the administration have to say about that?"
Update 12/23/25 12:33 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with statement from FedEx.
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