by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Opinions, World
Frank F. Islam
Some sort of restrictions could be imposed even within weeks. In the proclamation, Trump directed the secretaries of labour and homeland security to review various visa programmes and recommend appropriate measures
United States (US) President Donald Trump recently signed a new presidential proclamation that imposed a 60-day ban on issuing Green Cards to certain immigrants. India’s information technology (IT) industry and hundreds of thousands of H-1B visa holders in the US — a significant majority of whom are Indian nationals — heaved a huge sigh of relief: The proclamation did not eliminate the 65,000 H-1B visas for fiscal year 2021.
However, H-1B workers, who number more than half a million, are not out of the woods yet. It is unlikely that they will be, till the economy picks up steam, or, at the very least, until all the ballots are counted after the presidential election on November 3.
Some sort of restrictions could be imposed even within weeks. In the proclamation, Trump directed the secretaries of labour and homeland security to review various visa programmes and recommend appropriate measures, “and ensure the prioritisation, hiring, and employment of United States workers”.
Even if no additional measures are implemented, the H-1B community is living in fear of job loss and the thought of having to leave the country. If the economy doesn’t turn the corner, anywhere from 20% to 25% of H-1B employees could lose their jobs, according to one estimate.
Even if the gradual reopening of the economy results in some sort of recovery, there is no question the post-coronavirus pandemic terrain will be challenging for the Indian IT sector in the US. With the health care infrastructure overwhelmed by the pandemic and the economy in the middle of a recession, the upcoming presidential election, which is less than six months away, will be fought largely on these two issues. And jobs, 30 million of them having vanished, will be at the front and centre of the campaign for both sides.
H-1B was a big target for Trump in 2016, who repeatedly criticised it during the presidential campaign. He once vowed to “end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labour programme”, and make it “an absolute requirement to hire Americanworkers first for every visa and immigration programme” without any exception.
But once in power, Trump largely avoided talking about the H-1B programme. The one major action he took was an executive order signed just three months after swearing-in as the 45th president of the US. That was the “Buy American and Hire American” order, which directed federal agencies to “propose new rules and issue new guidance” to “protect the interests of” US workers.
During the first three years of Trump’s presidency, the US economy created more than 6.5 million jobs, which weakened the argument that H-1B workers are depriving US citizens of jobs. But now, with more than 33 million jobs vanishing in less than three months, the voices of H-1B critics are resonating more than ever.
With his management of the coronavirus pandemic diminishing his re-election prospects significantly, one shouldn’t be surprised if Trump returns to his 2016 self during the campaign.
There is a big difference between then and now, however. In 2016, it was all rhetoric from an insurgent campaigner; now, being the president, he has the tools to implement what he preached four years ago.
In the meantime, H-1B workers and the Indian IT industry should pray for the best but expect and be prepared for the worst.
Frank F Islam is an entrepreneur, civic leader, and thought leader based in Washington DC.The views expressed are personal
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
By Arul Louis,
New York : The US government has announced new regulations to give greater preference to workers with advanced degrees from US institutions for H-1B non-immigrant professional visas.
The new rules that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Wednesday will go into effect on April 1 and could potentially reduce the visas available to candidates educated elsewhere.
The DHS said in a statement that it was estimated that the new regulations will lead to 5,340 – or 16 per cent – more H-1B visas for workers with a Master’s or Ph.D degrees from US institutions.
Explaining the new rules, Doug Rand, an independent immigration expert, said now all applicants will first be put into the same pool and 65,000 will be selected for the visas open to all, then all the unselected US advanced degree-holders would be moved into the pool reserved for them and 20,000 of them will be randomly picked.
This would give US-educated professionals who did not get selected in the first round another chance at getting the highly-coveted visas.
Congress set the limit of 65,000 H-1B visas every year and the additional quota of 20,000 for professionals with higher education qualifications from the US.
Since there are far more applicants than there are H1-B visa slots, the government holds a lottery to pick the candidates for the visas.
Francis Cissna, the Director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) said the new procedure would further President Donald Trump’s “goal of improving our immigration system”.
“As a result, US employers seeking to employ foreign workers with a US Master’s or higher degree will have a greater chance of selection in the H-1B lottery,” he added.
The DHS linked the changes to Trump’s “Buy American and Hire American” executive order. It said the order specifically mentioned the H-1B programme and directed agencies to “suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries”.
The new regulations were being implemented rapidly in less than two months of the initial proposal in December. “Trust me, that’s warp speed for a government agency,” said Rand, who had worked in former President Barack Obama’s White House on immigration policy.
“This is the first regulation affecting the legal immigration system that the Trump administration has moved all the way through the regulatory process, from start to finish – and there are many more in the pipeline, such as eliminating work permits for spouses of H-1B workers,” said Rand, who is the co-founder of Boundless Immigration, a technology company that helps families navigate the immigration process.
Earlier this month, Trump said he will change the H-1B visa system for professionals to ensure “certainty” and a path to citizenship for them.
He tweeted: “H-1B holders in the US can rest assured that changes are soon coming which will bring both simplicity and certainty to your stay, including a potential path to citizenship. We want to encourage talented and highly skilled people to pursue career options in the US.”
However, there had been no concrete proposals from him or the government for implementing those assurances.
Indians are the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visas and 76 per cent of them in 2017, according to government statistics.
According to a recent report by the State Department and the Institute of International Education, 95,651 Indians are now studying for advanced degrees in the US and 75,390 are in practical training programmes after graduation.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump’s administration is set to propose revoking a rule that makes spouses of thousands of H1-B visa holders eligible to work while in the US, potentially complicating a major driver of technology jobs, the media reported.
Since 2015, the spouses of H-1B, or high-skilled, visa holders waiting for green cards have been eligible to work in the US on H-4 dependent visas, under a rule introduced by former President Barack Obama’s administration, CNN reported on Friday.
The tech sector is a major employer of H-1B visa holders.
But in a statement late Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said that it intended to do away with the rule.
However, the department did not explain its reasons in the announcement, saying that it was only acting “in light of” the “Buy American, Hire American” executive order that Trump had signed in April.
The formal process to rescind the rule will still need to be initiated at a later date.
While changing the rule would not prevent spouses of H-1B holders from pursuing other avenues for work authorisation, it could deter a number of high-skilled immigrants from staying in the US if their spouses cannot easily find work.
As well as dropping the rule allowing spouses to work, the Department of Homeland Security statement mentioned plans for other changes to the H-1B visa programme, reports CNN.
They include revising the definition of what occupations are eligible for the programme “to increase focus on truly obtaining the best and brightest foreign nationals”, which would be a standard potentially far above what is currently understood under the law.
The Obama-era rule allowing spouses to work already faces a legal challenge. A group called Save Jobs USA filed a lawsuit in April 2015 arguing that it threatens American jobs.
It has continued to press the case following Trump’s election, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said in the past that the H-4 rule “hurts American workers”.
The administration’s plans to overhaul the H-1B programme has caused particular alarm in India, which accounts for 70 per cent of all H-1B workers.
The H-1B is a common visa route for highly skilled foreigners to find work at companies in the US. It is valid for three years, and can be renewed for another three years.
It is a programme that’s particularly popular in the tech community, with many engineers vying for one of the programme’s 85,000 visas each year.
In October, the government said it was toughening up the process for renewing the visa. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services instructed its officers to review requests for renewal as thoroughly as they would initial visa applications.
—IANS
