WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Tuesday announced significant changes to the H-1B visa program for highly skilled workers, requiring U.S. companies to pay foreign fares and tightening eligibility criteria for applicants.
Despite top administration officials making changes as a way to save American jobs during the coronavirus epidemic, the Trump administration showed commitment to repairing the program for the first time in 2017 as part of efforts to reduce the number of foreign nationals working in the United States.
“As millions of Americans search for work, and the economy continues to recover, urgent action is needed to protect against risk. Foreign labor could jeopardize the well-being of U.S. workers,” Patrick Pizzella, deputy secretary of labor, told reporters Tuesday. .
These rules will directly affect foreign workers and employers, especially tech companies that have long supported the H-1B program and pushed hard for its expansion.
Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Kenneth T. Cusinelli said he hopes the number of applications filed each year for annual visas will drop by a third.
The changes will be released this week as interim final rules, meaning the agency believes there is a “good reason” to claim a waiver from the general requirement to get feedback from the public before it is completed.
Immigration lawyers and experts predicted that the changes would be quickly challenged in court as they bypass the normal regulatory process.
Seattle-based Boundless Immigration, a technology company that helps immigrants get greencards, said D’Rand said “these rules have not yet been seen in public and there is no general opportunity to comment, as required by Congress.” Said Rand. And citizenship. “Given the inevitability of court challenges, it seems like thin barriers to whether these policies are to survive.”
The government issues 85,000 H-1B visas each year, often using lotteries to award them, so the number of workers sought by companies always exceeds the number of visas available. Many workers are eventually sponsored by their employer to stay permanently in the United States for green cards.
Some critics have suggested that the changes, which came less than a month before the election, were politically motivated.
“Why this, why now and why is that the interim final rule?” Said Theresa Cardinal Brown, director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “It simply came to our notice then. There is no estimate of the amount of jobs released for workers. It’s the best bank shot. “
The Department of Labor rule, which applies after publication, would increase wages on the board for foreign workers based on a pay survey in each business. Companies will have to pay entry-level workers in the program 45 percent of their business salary instead of 17 percent. Wages for highly skilled workers will increase from 67% to cen th.
According to the Labor Department’s rule, “it will also result in higher staff costs for some blenders.” The agency added, “Such interests are intended to protect U.S. workers and such rising costs are justified.”
But Stephen Yale-Lohr, a professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School, said the rule would have the opposite effect.
“By raising the required wages, the new rules will hurt all employers trying to hire foreign workers, but especially start-up companies and small companies that may not be able to meet the increased wage requirements.”
The Homeland Security Department’s rule, which applies within 60 days, will also tighten eligibility for visa applicants. This rule requires foreign workers to have a “specialty occupation” degree rather than any college degree. Some will also need to show how their study provided a “highly specialized body of knowledge” for a potential job in the United States.
The vast majority of H-1B visa holders are employed by the tech sector, where they work as computer engineers and software developers. Visas are also issued to architects, accountants and physicians along with other professionals.
These regulations will almost certainly have the opposite effect on rural hospitals and other health care providers that rely on a stable pipeline of overseas physicians because they cannot attract enough American doctors, who generally prefer to practice in urban areas.
For example, instead of offering a minimum starting salary of 000 1,000,000 to ૧ 1,000,000, a clinic in eastern Pennsylvania, which is considered an undeveloped area, would charge a foreign physician around $ 195,000 or $ 200,000. Have to pay.
“Entry-level doctors in rural areas will have to pay an experienced-level salary, which may be higher than what is paid to their supervisors,” said William A. Stock, an employment immigration lawyer in Philadelphia. “This will restrict the supply of doctors willing to go to parts of rural America. It will put providers in a jam that they cannot hire foreign-born doctors.”
The H-1B rule comes on the heels of a declaration signed by President Trump in June that postponed the worker visa array until at least December 31. Groups representing thousands of businesses challenged the declaration, which affected H-1B, H-2B. Seasonal work visas, L-1 visas for officers are transferred by companies and cultural-exchange J-1 visas, including the AU pair.
The groups were relieved again last week when a federal judge ruled that Mr. Trump had overstepped his authority to ban visas.
The judge said there should be some restrictions on presidential power in the domestic sphere so as not to give the executive full monarchical power.
The order contradicted an earlier decision by a federal judge in Washington, which ensured the appellate court would make the final decision.
But it immediately lifted the ban on companies employing large numbers of foreign workers.
