New York: The US Administration of President Donald Trump announced a tightening of the rules for immigration visas used widely by technology companies, claiming that “the new system would be better for American workers.”
The Department of Homeland Security announced new regulations Tuesday for so-called H-1B visas for highly-skilled workers, which allow up to 85,000 immigrants annually.
The measure to cut H-1B visas for foreign skilled workers and tighten wage-based entry barriers citing “data” that more than 500,000 Americans have lost their jobs due to “H1B nonimmigrants” is likely to hit technicians the most. Indians. .
India and China account for the majority of H-1B visas. According to data from the US government, India accounts for more than 70 percent, most years. In a call with reporters, Acting DHS Undersecretary Ken Cuccinelli said that about a third of people who have applied for H-1B visas will be denied under the new rules.
With Trump bedridden with COVID-19, his poll numbers dropping, and less than 30 days before the US election, the timing of H1B visa approval is normal for foreign workers.
On live Tv
“It would have been a surprise if this hadn’t happened,” said an H1B worker at JP Morgan in New York City. The worker asked not to be identified. The salary requirement will be a “game changer” in favor of the Trump administration, this worker said.
Many H1B workers expressed a version of the same sentiment. They have seen this movie before. It’s all a Trump anthem, all the time, to cheer on his most vocal supporters, they said.
The latest blow comes as the ducks line up in multiple departments that coordinate and monitor the intersecting elements of foreign worker visas: US Department of Labor (DoL), US Citizenship and Immigration Services ( USCIS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The Department of Labor’s revisions to minimum wage requirements go into effect Thursday and DHS’s H1B revisions will come home in 60 days.
“When seeking to employ an H-1B, H-1B1 or E-3 visa, US employers must attest that they will pay nonimmigrant workers, during the authorized period of employment, the greater of the prevailing wage or the actual salary paid to other employees with similar experience and qualifications, “announced the US Department of Labor.
The gas-lit “Low Coast H1B paycheck is a widely used anthem and has grown louder in the Trump years. The word” undermine “was used multiple times Tuesday in a round robin of press releases. coordinated seamlessly over the phone information sessions at DoL and DHS.
The DOL rule will raise the four salary tiers for employees on H1B and other professional visas, which currently start at the 17th percentile for each industry, to the 45th percentile.
“Under existing wage levels, artificially low prevailing wages provide an opportunity for employers to hire and retain foreign workers with wages well below their American counterparts – that is, American workers in the same job market, doing similar jobs. and possess similar levels of education, experience and responsibility – create, create an incentive – totally at odds with the legal scheme – to prefer foreign workers to American workers, and cause downward pressure on the wages of the national workforce “reads an excerpt from the DoL’s provisional final rule.
The Department is also tightening the screws on the definition of “specialty occupation” to align it with what it calls the “textual” description.
In parallel, DHS will reduce the definition of “specialty occupation”, require companies to make “real” offers to “real employees” and enhance its own ability to ensure compliance “before, during and after an H1 petition is approved. -B “.
“The data shows that more than half a million H-1B nonimmigrants in the United States have been used to displace American workers,” a statement from the Department of Homeland Security read.
(With contributions from the agency)
.
