H-1B Visa Registration Opens After Overhaul
Employers this week began competing for a limited number of H-1B visas, following the first registration-period opening since the administration overhauled the permit system last year (POLITICO Pro , subscription).
What’s going on: “Employment lawyers and immigration experts are anticipating decreased interest from businesses unwilling or unable to bear the $100,000 cost the White House has imposed for importing a class of workers long associated with the tech industry but also highly valued in health care and other sectors,” including manufacturing.
- President Trump issued a proclamation in September assigning a higher price tag to the visas, in an attempt “to discourage businesses from abusing the program by flooding the system with requests for comparatively low-wage workers—rather than the in-demand professionals it was designed to cover.”
- The visa program, run by the Department of Homeland Security, allows U.S. companies and other employers to hire highly skilled foreign workers.
- The rule finalized in December replaces the previous selection system (a random lottery) with a weighted process.
Why it’s a problem: The U.S. caps the number of H-1B visas at an annual 85,000.
- “Interest in the program has long exceeded capacity, but Congress has refused to increase the number of visas available,” according to POLITICO.
Our view: The NAM urged the administration against the change, saying it would worsen—not improve—an existing problem.
- “The manufacturing industry faces a critical workforce shortage that is a key hindrance to realizing our growth potential,” NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy Jake Kuhns told DHS in October. “While manufacturers in the U.S. are investing heavily in the development of our homegrown workforce, these efforts cannot fully meet the industry’s needs”—and American manufacturing requires foreign-born STEM employees.
Looking ahead: The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear oral arguments in a case against the Trump administration’s visa fee later this month.