How Walmart Built a Global Labor System Around H-1B Visas, OPT Workers, and Offshore Tech Hubs

NewsData.io · United States · Sep 22, 2026

An investigative piece documents how Walmart expanded its use of H-1B visa workers, OPT/STEM OPT international graduates, and offshore IT contractors over the past decade, with Department of Labor records showing roughly 26,348 direct Walmart Labor Condition Applications plus thousands more filed by outside staffing and outsourcing firms. By 2024, Walmart logged over 1,900 OPT/STEM OPT and CPT participations in a single year, while simultaneously building its largest global tech hub in Bengaluru, India with approximately 8,000 workers. The company's May 2025 announcement of 1,500 corporate layoffs drew sharp criticism given the concurrent offshore expansion, raising pointed questions about the displacement of American technology professionals. The story provides a detailed case study of how large enterprises use staffing intermediaries, visa pipelines, and offshore development to reshape their professional workforce—dynamics directly relevant to recruiters competing for tech placements.