The reform of the US visa program for skilled workers wins praise

The Trump administration's new rules for an American visa program widely used by technology workers are praised by Silicon Valley for the growing demand for highly skilled employees.

The H-1B visa program, which admits 85,000 foreign nationals each year, will give higher priority to graduates of US universities, in accordance with the final regulations issued by the Department of Homeland Security in January. .

"US employers looking to employ foreign workers with a master's degree or a higher degree will have a greater chance of being selected to the H-1B lottery," said Francis Cissna, Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services of the United States, announcing the change. January 30

The changes stem from the technology industry's call for more immigrants to occupy key skilled positions and to partially address concerns that the program has been exploited by some technology giants. and subcontracting companies to cut wages and move American employees.

"The changes globally represent a positive step," said Todd Schulte of the FWD.us immigration reform group, backed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and D & # s Other actors in the sector.

Rifts in the administration

Ed Black of the Computer & Communications Industry Association Association, which represents several large technology companies, said the program had not always been administered as well as it could have been .

"We hope the recently announced revisions will improve efficiency, but it is too early to say what the impact will be," Black said.

The H-1B program, in place since 1990, has been used for a variety of skilled occupations, including nurses and pastry chefs, but in recent years two-thirds were computer-related jobs and all three quarter of the employees came from India. Since visa holders can stay up to six years, the number of people living in the United States is estimated at more than half a million.

Ron Hira, a Howard University political scientist who has been following the visa program for two decades, said some big tech companies and outsourcing companies were running the program to cut wages and sometimes even replace US employees.

Hira said that visas had not been allocated to the "most pressing needs" of the labor market and that "the typical H-1B employee works in a back-office through the intermediary from a donor ".

He said the reform "brings us a little closer to a better pool, but it still does not pick the" best and brightest "- you can reform it a lot better."

Hira said the system had so far been disappointing because of the large outsourcing companies that were flooding it with thousands of applications and some Silicon Valley companies that l? use to reduce wages.

A complaint filed by the US Department of Labor alleged that Oracle discriminated against some Americans by bringing in a large number of H-1B visa holders, who were paid less than US nationals.

The new DHS rule reverses the order of the two lotteries for H-1B visas by selecting the top 65,000 from all applications, and then 20,000 with higher degrees.

Officials expect an increase of 5,000, or 16%, of higher degree holders.

Hira said this would potentially change the composition of visa holders into positions with higher pay and skill levels.

"Modest" but positive change seen

William Kerr, a professor at Harvard University and head of the Future University Work Initiative, agreed that the changes could slightly change the makeup of people who receive an H-1B visa to attract more people with advanced skills.

"It's a modest change in a system that requires a major reshuffle, but I support change," he said.

Robert Atkinson, president of the foundation for information technology and innovation, a sector-based think tank, said the changes should be seen in the context of the rhetoric of the # Trump administration on stifling foreigners and engaging more Americans.

"People were talking about the closure of this program and the difficulty for businesses to use [visa holders] at all, so it could have been much worse, "said Atkinson.

The reform is a "reasonable compromise," said Atkinson.

The change, he said, "sends a positive message to foreigners who have dropped out of registration in US universities and who feel uncertain about what Trump will do."