Asked about the new visa category rules, Donald Trump said there would be very few exclusions.
President Donald Trump’s plan to restrict job-based visas could affect an estimated 240,000 people looking to work in the U.S. in sectors ranging from technology to finance and hospitality.
Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Saturday that he would announce new restrictions on various work visas on Sunday or Monday. The plan will not affect some workers who are already in the United States, he added.
There will be very few exclusions, said Trump, when asked about the upcoming rules on several different visa categories, including the H-1B program for highly skilled workers, the L-1 program for managers transferred to the breast of their business and H-2B visas. for temporary non-agricultural workers.
“In some cases, you have to have exclusions. You need them for large companies where there are certain people who have been coming for a long time,” he said.
A possible possibility would prevent people from entering the United States with visa categories, including the H-1B program, for as long as 180 days, Bloomberg News reported on June 12, citing two people familiar with the proposal. Workers who have obtained these visas but who remain abroad may not be able to enter until the order expires.
This decision would affect hundreds of companies and thousands of people: in fiscal year 2019, the H-1B visa was granted to around 133,000 workers who started working for a company. More than 12,000 people obtained an L-1 visa in the initial applications and more than 98,000 people obtained an H-2B visa. Barring exclusions, Trump’s plan could reach more than 240,000 applicants solely based on these three categories of work visas.
Trump tweeted at the height of the coronavirus pandemic that he planned to “temporarily halt immigration to the United States.” Industry groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Information Technology Industry Council, have written to Trump expressing concern that the restrictions will disrupt business and hinder growth .
In recent years, the administration has undertaken to tighten the H-1B program and the approval rate for applications has dropped. The technology industry has relied on H-1B visas to hire foreign talent, particularly in the fields of science and engineering. Critics say that some companies have abused the program to displace American workers.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
