Trump Cracks Down on H-1B Visa Program That Feeds Silicon Valley
President Trump's campaign promise to crack down on work visas that favor foreign workers over American employees saw further implementation on Friday as a trio of policy changes occurred, led by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency releasing guidelines designed to focus more stringent scrutiny on job applications, requiring proof that the position requires more advanced knowledge and experience. It followed on Monday with measures to "prevent fraud and abuse" in the H1-B program, along with a warning from the Justice Department to employers to not discriminate against American employees. This follows last month's suspension of an expedited visa processing program paid for by visa recipients.
The additional guidelines released last week will focus inspections on workplaces with the largest ratio of H-1B workers, and those with employees who do IT work for other companies. While there is acknowledgment that immigration reform is needed - given several cases where American employees were replaced with lower-paid workers, and concern that immigrant workers are exploited due to their legal status being dependent on an employer - there has been outcry from tech and outsourcing companies, who rely heavily on H1-B visas. Silicon Valley’s largest tech companies, often based strongly on immigrant success, say efforts to thwart immigration threaten innovation and recruitment. The H1-B program itself is the largest source of temporary foreign workers, with an estimated 460,000 people working on H-1B visas in 2013.
See "Trump Cracks Down on H-1B Visa Program That Feeds Silicon Valley", Jing Cao and Joshua Brustein, Bloomberg, April 5, 2017