{"id":23123,"date":"2020-06-24T04:06:06","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T08:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=23123"},"modified":"2020-06-24T04:06:09","modified_gmt":"2020-06-24T08:06:09","slug":"h1b-visas-reforms-trump-admin-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2020\/06\/24\/h1b-visas-reforms-trump-admin-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Takes a First Step Toward Reining in H-1B Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The wailing and gnashing of teeth in the tech sector is a strong indication that the Trump administration\u2019s suspension of H-1B visas<\/a> hit home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, Twitter\u2019s head of \u201cpublic policy\nand philanthropy for the Americas,\u201d spoke for many industry executives when she\ndeclared, \u201cThis proclamation undermines America\u2019s greatest economic asset: its\ndiversity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDiversity,\u201d translated from tech-speak, means the continual importation of lower-paid computer programmers hired and chained to their desks through so-called Indian body shops<\/a>. For all its virtue signaling, the sector\u2019s only movement toward diversity in the past five years has been even more hires from the Asian continent<\/a><\/em> (which encompasses India).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contrary to claims of industry\nlobbyists, tech workers arriving on H-1B \u201cskilled\u201d visas are not some exotic\nbreed unavailable in the U.S. workforce. The assertion that they are essential\nto this country\u2019s economic recovery is, well, anti-American.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe people we\u2019re talking about are doing routine IT jobs,\u201d said Roger Ross, a policy adviser for U.S. Tech Workers<\/a>. \u201cThere is no shortage of qualified American workers for these positions, but H-1B workers are essentially indentured, and they\u2019re paid less. They\u2019re not the best and brightest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to freezing H-1B visas (and dependent H-4 visas) through\n2020, President Trump\u2019s proclamation lays the groundwork for much-needed\nreform. His directives aim to force tech companies to\nlook first to American workers and raise wages for the foreign workers they\nstill hire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Until now, H-1Bs have been issued\nby lottery; 85,000 slots were filled from a pool of 225,000 applications last\nyear. Going forward, Trump\ndirected his administration to tighten the rules so companies can\u2019t oust\nAmericans and then replace them with H-1B visa holders to do the same job. The\nLabor Department said it will begin investigating complaints of companies that\nabuse the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Federal guidelines stipulate that the H-1B program should not \u201cadversely\naffect the wages and working conditions\u201d of Americans. But, in reality,\nemployers use H-1B workers to displace Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most employers aren\u2019t required to show that they have advertised a job to Americans and that there are no qualified Americans available before hiring an H-1B worker. According to reports<\/a>, companies ranging from Disney to the electric utility Southern California Edison to the coronavirus test producer Abbott Labs\u00a0have replaced U.S. workers with H-1B imports at lower salaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under\na reformed program, \u201cEmployers would actually have to ask themselves how much\ndo I really want this foreign worker, as opposed to hiring an American worker,\u201d\nsaid Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations at NumbersUSA, a\nWashington-D.C. group that advocates for lower immigration levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the proclamation suspends entry into the U.S. via H-1B, it exempts<\/a> current and prospective international students here on F-1 visas. These students (and graduates) remain eligible for employment through the Optional Practical Training<\/a> program, which remains unaffected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Seeking further\nreforms, some lawmakers have proposed blocking issuance of H-1Bs to outsourcing\nfirms that bring in employees, primarily from India. The largest of these\nbody shops, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, consistently receive more\nH-1Bs than even the largest U.S. tech companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cH-1B\nis nothing more than an \u2018India Treaty Work Visa\u2019 program,\u201d asserts U.S. Tech\nWorkers. \u201cSeventy-five percent of H-1Bs go to Indian nationals, and the top 10\nusers of H-1Bs are outsourcing firms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Trump administration\u2019s proclamation is a large and laudable first step toward reining in the H-1B program. It\u2019s clear that more work lies ahead. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The wailing and gnashing of teeth in the tech sector is a strong indication that the Trump administration\u2019s suspension of H-1B visas hit home. Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, Twitter\u2019s head of \u201cpublic policy and philanthropy for the Americas,\u201d spoke for many industry executives when she declared, \u201cThis proclamation undermines America\u2019s greatest economic asset: its diversity.\u201d \u201cDiversity,\u201d translated<\/p>\n