
President Trump signing an executive order.
Image credit – Shealah Craighead / The White House
President Trump signing an executive order.
Image credit – Shealah Craighead / The White House
President Trump issued a proclamation
The proclamation asserts the pause is needed to provide more job opportunities to Americans in view of the current state of widespread unemployment. But proponents of the H-1B program say it is a key tool for filling jobs lacking an adequate domestic workforce, particularly in STEM fields.
The proclamation also suspends other categories of nonimmigrant visas, though it is not as sweeping as some had feared. While the order affects various categories of J visas, it exempts those used by professors, scholars, and students. It also does not affect the Optional Practical Training program, which allows foreign students to work in the U.S. for up to three years after they finish their degree programs. The administration has reportedly considered curtailing
The restrictions expand on an initial proclamation
Justifying the expansion to nonimmigrant programs, the new proclamation states, “Under ordinary circumstances, properly administered temporary worker programs can provide benefits to the economy. But under the extraordinary circumstances of the economic contraction resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak, certain nonimmigrant visa programs authorizing such employment pose an unusual threat to the employment of American workers.”
The proclamation includes a “national interest” waiver for medical workers who are involved in research on COVID-19 or care for patients afflicted with the disease. The exemption also applies to individuals who are deemed “critical to the defense, law enforcement, diplomacy, or national security of the United States … or are necessary to facilitate the immediate and continued economic recovery of the United States.” Implementation of this provision is delegated to the Departments of State, Labor, and Homeland Security.
Absent widespread exemptions, the proclamation could affect hundreds of thousands of potential visa seekers. In a press briefing, an unnamed administration official asserted the new restrictions could “open up” about 525,000 jobs for Americans.
A large fraction of the prospective applicants affected by the order are workers eligible for H-1B visas. In fiscal year 2019, the State Department issued
The proclamation notably affects both the “capped” portion of the H-1B program, which allocates up to 85,000 visas to companies each year via a lottery system, and the uncapped portion that is used by universities and other non-profit organizations. It also applies to H-4 visas, which are used by spouses of H-1B holders.
The capped portion of the program has been a longstanding subject of debate, with some arguing
The order also sets in motion a prospective overhaul of the capped visas, instructing the Department of Homeland Security to “consider promulgating regulations or take other appropriate action regarding the efficient allocation of [H-1B] visas.”
At the press briefing, the administration official stated the president has “instructed us to get rid of the lottery and replace it with ranking the salaries,” meaning that the top 85,000 salary offers across all applicants would receive the visas. “This will drive both the wage level and the skill level of the H-1B applicants up. It will eliminate competition with Americans, it will reduce American competition in these industries at the entry level, and will do more to get the best and the brightest,” the official said.
The administration has long sought
In the weeks leading up to Trump’s new proclamation, companies and research groups engaged in an intense lobbying effort to convince the administration of the benefits of nonimmigrant visa programs, emphasizing their importance for the STEM workforce.
In a letter
A group of 36 scientific societies, including AIP, also wrote
Business and university associations are now blasting the proclamation as a blow to the U.S. economy.
Association of American Universities President Mary Sue Coleman asserted in a statement
“Putting up a ‘not welcome’ sign for engineers, executives, IT experts, doctors, nurses, and other workers won’t help our country, it will hold us back,” he added.
Many university scientists and administrators have also taken to Twitter to call attention to the effects of the H-1B program suspension.
Denis Wirtz, vice provost for research at Johns Hopkins University, tweeted
Wirtz added
John Preskill, director of the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter at Caltech, wrote
Andrew Ng, a prominent artificial intelligence researcher, tweeted