Trump set to clamp down on H-1B visas

Team Udayavani, Feb 1, 2017, 9:12 AM IST

Washington: US president Donald Trump is set to sign an order overhauling work visa programmes like H-1B which help Indians find jobs in that country. Simultaneously, his government is working on a law to double the minimum salary of foreign workers. The draft of the executive order to be signed by Trump was leaked and published by some news websites.

It says the Trump administration would reverse former president Barack Obama’s extension of the duration of the optional practical training work visas, which allowed foreign students to stay in the US a bit longer after completion of their studies. Within 90 days of the signing of the executive order, the secretary of Homeland Security would have to review all regulations that allow foreign nationals to work in the US and determine which of those regulations violate the immigration laws or are not in the national interest of America.

The draft order seeks the administration to “consider ways to make the process of allocating visas more efficient and ensure that beneficiaries of the programmes are the best and the brightest.”The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year.

During his campaign, president Trump promised to increase oversight of the country’s H-1B and L1 visa programmes. “You’ll see both through executive action and through comprehensive measures a way to address immigration as a whole and the visa programme,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters on Monday.