President Trump has kept calling H-1B visa system a "cheap labor program" and now his administration is doing something to change that. On Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Department of Homeland Security announced a proposed rule towards reforming the H-1B visa. The new rule aims to give priority to applications for workers with advanced degrees from American universities.
The policy would also require sponsoring companies to register for an H1-B lottery for free online instead of having to submit a full blown application. This would help tech companies that have expressed their frustration that IT outsourcing firms flood the lottery system with non-meritorious applications.
Currently, the law limits the number of regular H-1B visas that can be issued to 65,000 per year. The first 20,000 filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a US master’s degree or higher are exempt from the cap. The USCIS proposes to reverse the order allowing it to select H-1B petitions under the H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption. This is likely to increase the number of foreign workers with a master’s or higher degree from a US institution of higher education to be selected for an H-1B cap number.
The proposed rule change is likely the first of many on Trump's agenda. Last year, DHS also said it plans to rescind an Obama-era policy allowing the spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the U.S. Another possible change is to raise the minimum wage required to hire a worker on an H-1B. Those additional changes will most likely come in the form of separate regulations over the next few months.
DHS plans to publish the new rule on Dec. 3. After that, the public has 30 days to comment on it.. It could take over a year before the new rule takes effect.
Служба гражданства и эмиграции США (USCIS) предлагает внести изменения в правила распределения рабочих виз H-1B. Это виза для квалифицированных специалистов, по ней приезжают многие программисты. Если новые правила вступят в силу, то предпочтение будет отдаваться специалистам с самой высокой квалификацией, американским образованием и высокой зарплатой.
Это из-за того, что президент Трамп часто называл визу H-1B "программой дешевой рабочей силы", отнимающей работу у компетентных американцев. Сейчас он пытается это изменить.
