By issuing proclamation, Trump ignored growing opposition to order (File)
Washington:
US President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to “reform” the H-1B visa system and move towards immigration based on merit, White House officials said.
“Switch to a merit-based immigration system,” the White House said in a statement shortly after Trump issued a proclamation to temporarily suspend H-1B and other work visas until the end of the year. The Trump administration will reform the immigration system to prioritize the most skilled workers and protect American jobs, he said.
As part of these reforms, the H-1B program will prioritize workers who are offered the highest wages, ensuring that the most qualified candidates are admitted, the White House said.
The Trump administration will also close loopholes that have allowed U.S. employers to replace U.S. workers with low-cost foreign labor, he said.
These reforms will help protect the wages of American workers and ensure that the foreign workforce entering our country is highly skilled and does not undermine the American labor market, the White House added.
“The most permanent actions he orders us to take include reforming the H-1B system to move toward a more merit-based system. You hear the President talking all the time about getting the most out of the brightest, and you will also hear him talk about protecting American jobs. So these reforms will do both, “a senior administration official told reporters on a conference call.
As part of these reforms, the H-1B program will prioritize workers who are offered the highest wages as the best indicator of what they are bringing to the table to add to the US economy, said the manager.
Noting that there is a ceiling of 85,000 H-1B visas each year, the official said that last year, 2,225,000 applications had been received for these visas.
“Until this year, these visas have been distributed by lot … The President has asked us to get rid of the lottery and replace it with the salary ranking – so that the best 85,000 salary offers among the approximately 225,000 applicants obtaining visas, “said the official.
This will increase both the salary level and the skill level of H-1B candidates. This will eliminate competition with the Americans, reduce American competition in these industries at the entry level and do more to get the best and the brightest, said the official.
According to the official, Trump also asked them to close the loopholes that have allowed employers to essentially outsource their work domestically by replacing American workers with low-cost foreign labor.
“The way this loophole worked was the analysis of whether an incoming immigrant worker would replace an American worker was done at the company that hired the immigrant,” said the official.
If the company hires a group of immigrants and then contracts them out to another company – say, Disney or AT&T, to name just two historical examples – then they end up moving American workers to Disney and AT&T, who had both their infamous US employee employees trained their H-1B replacements as their last act, the official said.
“The president has ordered us to end the practice and will do so by regulation as soon as possible,” said the senior administration official.
Trump has ordered, among other things, to change and clean up the prevailing wage calculation for H-1B wages.
“It’s a crazy old Clinton-era system with four levels, and the prevailing salary calculations are done at various bases,” said the official.
“The Ministry of Labor is going to settle all of this, with the idea of setting the floor salary at the 50th percentile so that these people are at the top of the earnings, so we get the best and the brightest,” adds the most of value to the economy, and we are maximizing the opportunities for Americans to get jobs, ” the official said.
The Secretary of Labor will begin to use his statutory authority to investigate abuses in the H1B states, the official said.
“Although this statutory power existed, I do not think that a secretary of Labor, before secretary Scalia, ever tried to use it. The president ordered him to do so. He is enthusiastic about the idea of start, “said the official.
