Trump touts plan to change visas for skilled foreign workers

[rooster59]

Trump touts plan to change visas for skilled foreign workers

By Yeganeh Torbati and Mica Rosenberg

 

FILE PHOTO: A woman leaves the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices in New York, August 15, 2012. REUTERS/Keith Bedford/File Photo

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he plans changes to the H-1B programme that grants temporary visas for specialty occupations such as technology or medicine, but his administration said later he was referring to changes that were proposed last year.

 

"H1-B (sic) holders in the United States can rest assured that changes are soon coming which will bring both simplicity and certainty to your stay, including a potential path to citizenship," Trump said on Twitter. "We want to encourage talented and highly skilled people to pursue career options in the U.S."

 

It was unclear what Trump meant by a "potential path to citizenship" for H-1B visa holders, who already are eligible to be sponsored by employers for legal permanent residency, which would then make them eligible to become U.S. citizens.

 

When asked about Trump's tweet, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Michael Bars provided a statement about a formal proposal in December for changes to the H-1B process, which are likely to become final later this year.

 

The proposal is designed to increase by 5,340, or 16 percent, the number of H-1B beneficiaries who hold advanced degrees from American universities. It would also streamline the application process with a new electronic registration system.

 

"These proposed regulatory changes would help ensure more of the best and brightest workers from around the world come to America under the H-1B programme," Bars said.

 

Critics questioned why Trump tweeted about a month-old proposal at a time when he is battling with congressional Democrats over spending legislation to fund the federal government. Trump wants to include $5.6 billion for a wall along the border with Mexico, which he says will stem illegal immigration.

 

Democrats call the proposed wall expensive, ineffective and immoral. The dispute has led to a partial shutdown of the U.S. government that is now in its 21st day.

 

Doug Rand, a former White House official in the Obama administration who worked on immigration issues, said the proposed changes to the lottery selection process were at best modest and at worst could cause chaos. Some immigration experts do not believe the new registration system will be ready in time for the next lottery, which occurs in the spring.

 

"The odds that a complicated new electronic processing system will be effectively launched by DHS in time for the next lottery on April 1 is low probability and has nothing to do with a potential path to citizenship," Rand said.

 

Throughout his presidency, Trump has sought to stem illegal immigration and to deport more immigrants living in the United States illegally. His administration has also worked to limit legal immigration, including through a proposal that would penalise aspiring immigrants who use public benefits.

 

Trump has also derided visas granted to family members of U.S. residents or citizens as "chain migration," and backed a Republican proposal in 2017 that would have slashed legal immigration in half.

 

"The devil is in the details, said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, a nonprofit group which advocates for pro-immigration policies. He said his group, which was founded by tech executives including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, remains "sceptical of vague pronouncements given the administration's track record."

 

U.S. companies often use H-1B visas to hire graduate-level workers in specialised fields including information technology, medicine, engineering and mathematics. But the visa programme has also drawn criticism for being used heavily by foreign outsourcing companies that squeeze out American firms.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-12

[bristolboy]

But no changes to the H-2B visas which allows Trump to bring in foreign workers for extremely low pay. Maybe not as low as the illegals his company employs but still..

[Tug]

Won’t happen till Donald learns to work with others lol and at his age and temperament it’s extremely doubtful lol

[Chomper Higgot]

People with tunnelling skills need not apply.

[attrayant]

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

President Donald Trump said [...]

 

All too often seems to be followed by:

 

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

It was unclear what Trump meant [...]

 

[Pedrogaz]

I'm guessing he will allow people with advanced degrees from US universities (ie people on J visas) to convert directly to H-1B visas. Currently is forbidden as the logic goes how can you be an expert in the field if you have just left college and not worked? Currently the law is such students have to leave the country and reapply to come back when they get some experience.

 

If so it will be a positive step.

[Srikcir]

Will there also be a "mirror" visa to the H-1B visa that allows unskilled, undocumented migrants to work at Trump's Golf Course enterprises?

[lannarebirth]

4 hours ago, attrayant said:

•  

  12 hours ago, rooster59 said:

President Donald Trump said [...]

 

All too often seems to be followed by:

 

  7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

It was unclear what Trump meant [...

 

 

What he means is that the elegant scam that displaces American kids in university by replacing them with high paying international students who then go on to take their high paying jobs will continue unabated.

[GinBoy2]

As welcome as a simplification of the H1-B is, and have had many former employees who can attest to what a pain in the ass it is; chain migration, interesting subject.

 

If, that's a big if POTUS could ever give an honest answer to anything, it would be interesting to know exactly how Melania's parents came to get their greencards, and subsequent citizenship.

 

Her Father was a car salesman and Mother a textile factory worker. Hardly the high skill targets of H1-B. In reality the only feasible way was through Melania petitioning to have them granted residency as her parents

 

Oh Yeah, isn't that chain migration, which is now Baaaaad??

[lannarebirth]

5 hours ago, Pedrogaz said:

I'm guessing he will allow people with advanced degrees from US universities (ie people on J visas) to convert directly to H-1B visas. Currently is forbidden as the logic goes how can you be an expert in the field if you have just left college and not worked? Currently the law is such students have to leave the country and reapply to come back when they get some experience.

 

If so it will be a positive step.

 

Positive for university executive salaries. Positive for corporation's bottom lines. Positive for the foreigner who displaced an American. Who else is it positive for?

[Scott]

45 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

As welcome as a simplification of the H1-B is, and have had many former employees who can attest to what a pain in the ass it is; chain migration, interesting subject.

 

If, that's a big if POTUS could ever give an honest answer to anything, it would be interesting to know exactly how Melania's parents came to get their greencards, and subsequent citizenship.

 

Her Father was a car salesman and Mother a textile factory worker. Hardly the high skill targets of H1-B. In reality the only feasible way was through Melania petitioning to have them granted residency as her parents

 

Oh Yeah, isn't that chain migration, which is now Baaaaad??

In the distant past, I worked with visa processing.   I know that the wait time varies with the type of petition filed and the country of origin.  

 

Melania most likely sponsored her parents with a IR-5 -- that's an Immediate Relative, category 5.   I believe you can pay extra for expediting the visa.    There are limits on the number of people allowed in this category and once the quota is filled, then there is a wait time.  

 

Chain migration gets a bad wrap because it allows the bringing of immediate family as not limited by numbers -- Immediate family are first, spouse, second unmarried children, under 21; next are orphans either adopted or who will be adopted, and last is parents of a US citizen.    After that category, the time for further relatives, such as married children and spouses, siblings etc. gets to be longer and a little more complicated.   There are limits on the number admitted each year in those categories.  

 

In almost all of the immigrant visa's documents of financial support are required.   This puts serious restrictions on how many family most people can bring over.   You have to start being pretty wealthy to bring many people.   You are responsible for their financial care and they are restricted from public welfare and other benefits.  

 

The biggest problem when I was working in the area was with the financial support.   A lot of new immigrants simply didn't have  well paying job that allowed for much if any family to join.   Those documents are scrutinized carefully and must be backed up with W-2 forms and tax returns (oh, and the tax return had to be certified by the IRS, which meant the applicant had to get the IRS to send the copies of the tax returns filed).  

 

I don't know what is to be gained by major changes to this portion of the program.   Most of the categories can be controlled by limits set on the total number allowed to enter the US.  

 

[Srikcir]

19 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The proposal is designed to increase by 5,340, or 16 percent

For a perspective:

https://redbus2us.com/h1b-visa-cap-reach-dates-history-graphs-uscis-data/

 

 

[spidermike007]

 

Doug Rand, a former White House official in the Obama administration who worked on immigration issues, said the proposed changes to the lottery selection process were at best modest and at worst could cause chaos. Some immigration experts do not believe the new registration system will be ready in time for the next lottery, which occurs in the spring.

 

Any discussion of legal immigration is refreshing. The constant banter about the wall, and illegal immigration, is completely nonsensical, without a discussion of reforming the legal immigration system. The quotas are outdated, and need to be revised and expanded. The US is missing out on the best and the brightest from around the world, and runs a serious risk of becoming a nation of dishwashers, landscapers, and fruit pickers. 

 

However, I fear as usual, that this policy initiative is too little. As is usually the case with Trump and his administration, it is probably not a policy that is well thought out, and well planned. However, as I said, any discussion of immigration reform is desperately needed, and a good thing. 

[mcambl61]

11 hours ago, Scott said:

Chain migration gets a bad wrap because it allows the bringing of immediate family as not limited by numbers

perhaps it wouldn't if the congress would have enough competence to put a realistic limit on how many are allowed in total and actually have enough common

sense to get rid of the vacuous stupidity of the visa lottery system. another gem of stupidity from Schumer.

the vetting is obviously faulty and too generous on the student visa as well. Then where is the interior enforcement for the overstays?

 

https://cis.org/Report/Analyzing-New-Visa-Overstay-Report

 

add to this the massive amount of illegal entries and the ridiculous asylum loopholes that congress refuses to fix, there is a clear agenda from 

members of congress and they have failed to do their job for decades. 

[bristolboy]

2 minutes ago, mcambl61 said:

perhaps it wouldn't if the congress would have enough competence to put a realistic limit on how many are allowed in total and actually have enough common

sense to get rid of the vacuous stupidity of the visa lottery system. another gem of stupidity from Schumer.

the vetting is obviously faulty and too generous on the student visa as well. Then where is the interior enforcement for the overstays?

 

https://cis.org/Report/Analyzing-New-Visa-Overstay-Report

 

add to this the massive amount of illegal entries and the ridiculous asylum loopholes that congress refuses to fix, there is a clear agenda from 

members of congress and they have failed to do their job for decades. 

And as a result the USA is in grave peril?

[stevenl]

14 minutes ago, mcambl61 said:

perhaps it wouldn't if the congress would have enough competence to put a realistic limit on how many are allowed in total and actually have enough common

sense to get rid of the vacuous stupidity of the visa lottery system. another gem of stupidity from Schumer.

the vetting is obviously faulty and too generous on the student visa as well. Then where is the interior enforcement for the overstays?

 

https://cis.org/Report/Analyzing-New-Visa-Overstay-Report

 

add to this the massive amount of illegal entries and the ridiculous asylum loopholes that congress refuses to fix, there is a clear agenda from 

members of congress and they have failed to do their job for decades. 

That was a very dishonest quote. You should at least have added the following lines "Immediate family are first, spouse, second unmarried children, under 21; next are orphans either adopted or who will be adopted, and last is parents of a US citizen.    After that category, the time for further relatives, such as married children and spouses, siblings etc. gets to be longer and a little more complicated.   There are limits on the number admitted each year in those categories.  

 

In almost all of the immigrant visa's documents of financial support are required.   This puts serious restrictions on how many family most people can bring over.   You have to start being pretty wealthy to bring many people.   You are responsible for their financial care and they are restricted from public welfare and other benefits.".

[bristolboy]

One of the favorite myths of conservatives is that chain migration was a liberal plot devised in order to facilitate the immigration of non European immigrants. Actually the reverse is the case:

 

"House immigration subcommittee Chairman Michael Feighan, a conservative Democrat from Ohio, refused to hold hearings on the initial bill in 1965 because it emphasized employer-sponsored immigration. He guided the final package to focus on an expansive family-sponsored system. Because at the time European immigrants remained three-quarters of America’s foreign-born residents, conservatives like those at the American Legion expected that “the great bulk of immigration henceforth will not merely hail from the same parent countries as our present citizens, but will be their close relatives.”

This prediction turned out to be incorrect."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-chain-migration/2018/02/14/42d35276-1009-11e8-8ea1-c1d91fcec3fe_story.html?utm_term=.ba7dbc7f898e

 

The whole article is worth a read.

[mcambl61]

20 minutes ago, stevenl said:

That was a very dishonest quote. You should at least have added the following lines "Immediate family are first, spouse, second unmarried children, under 21; next are orphans either adopted or who will be adopted, and last is parents of a US citizen.    After that category, the time for further relatives, such as married children and spouses, siblings etc. gets to be longer and a little more complicated.   There are limits on the number admitted each year in those categories.  

 

In almost all of the immigrant visa's documents of financial support are required.   This puts serious restrictions on how many family most people can bring over.   You have to start being pretty wealthy to bring many people.   You are responsible for their financial care and they are restricted from public welfare and other benefits.".

it still does nothing to explain why congress refuses to fix the ridiculous asylum loopholes that prevent immediate repatriation as well as the lack of pursuit of the visa over stayers. 

 

so we are at approx. 20 million illegals and counting, when will the congress do something to stop it? more importantly, why is there no fix to the guest worker programs so everyone can get in line with a lawful solution?

[mcambl61]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

 

Doug Rand, a former White House official in the Obama administration who worked on immigration issues, said the proposed changes to the lottery selection process were at best modest and at worst could cause chaos. Some immigration experts do not believe the new registration system will be ready in time for the next lottery, which occurs in the spring.

 

Any discussion of legal immigration is refreshing. The constant banter about the wall, and illegal immigration, is completely nonsensical, without a discussion of reforming the legal immigration system. The quotas are outdated, and need to be revised and expanded. The US is missing out on the best and the brightest from around the world, and runs a serious risk of becoming a nation of dishwashers, landscapers, and fruit pickers. 

 

However, I fear as usual, that this policy initiative is too little. As is usually the case with Trump and his administration, it is probably not a policy that is well thought out, and well planned. However, as I said, any discussion of immigration reform is desperately needed, and a good thing. 

the lottery system is a joke, completely unnecessary. put a list of skills wanted to help the country and put a focus on those people no matter where they come from.

hint: we don't need any gender studies experts or political science graduates or lawyers.

[stevenl]

6 minutes ago, mcambl61 said:

it still does nothing to explain why congress refuses to fix the ridiculous asylum loopholes that prevent immediate repatriation as well as the lack of pursuit of the visa over stayers. 

 

so we are at approx. 20 million illegals and counting, when will the congress do something to stop it? more importantly, why is there no fix to the guest worker programs so everyone can get in line with a lawful solution?

No, depending on the source the maximum number is 11 million.

[bristolboy]

6 minutes ago, mcambl61 said:

it still does nothing to explain why congress refuses to fix the ridiculous asylum loopholes that prevent immediate repatriation as well as the lack of pursuit of the visa over stayers. 

 

so we are at approx. 20 million illegals and counting, when will the congress do something to stop it? more importantly, why is there no fix to the guest worker programs so everyone can get in line with a lawful solution?

I'm guessing that your figure of 20 million came from FAIR or some affiliate of it. Honest estimates are at about 11 million.

And guest what? There actually is an enforcement system designed to track down overstayers. It's called ICE.

There has been something of a fix to the guest workers program. The government raised the ceiling of how many H-2B workers were allowed. Oddly enough, that's just the kind of workers Trump's clubs are looking for. Hmmmm....

[mcambl61]

Just now, stevenl said:

No, depending on the source the maximum number is 11 million.

wrong, that simply doesn't add up, but then even 11 million is absolutely ridiculous and not to be tolerated in any way.

 

https://thehill.com/latino/407848-yale-mit-study-22-million-not-11-million-undocumented-immigrants-in-us

 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0201193

 

[mcambl61]

6 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

I'm guessing that your figure of 20 million came from FAIR or some affiliate of it. Honest estimates are at about 11 million.

And guest what? There actually is an enforcement system designed to track down overstayers. It's called ICE.

There has been something of a fix to the guest workers program. The government raised the ceiling of how many H-2B workers were allowed. Oddly enough, that's just the kind of workers Trump's clubs are looking for. Hmmmm....

wrong

 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0201193

[bristolboy]

11 minutes ago, mcambl61 said:

wrong

 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0201193

Yes I forgot about that one. But its conclusions are laughable and widely discounted for 3 major reasons, each one in and of itself enough to disqualify it:

The first reason is that the researcher come up with their own estimate of migrant returns rather than those based on established surveys.

"The second is that it is very difficult for millions of additional people to hide in the United States without leaving a demographic or statistical trail.  Their children should show up in birth and school records, their deaths should show up in death records, and more of them should be counted in the American Community Survey or U.S. Census.  The third is that they should show up in economic surveys of employment, but they do not."

https://www.cato.org/blog/what-there-were-millions-more-illegal-immigrants

 

But if what these authors are saying is correct, then that means that the crime rate and incarceration rate for illegal immigrants should be cut by 50%! 

 

[Scott]

Here's from the US Bureau of Prisons:

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons — whose data was last updated on November 24, 2018 — 19.3% of federal inmates are citizens of Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, or "other/unknown." The rest (80.7%) are U.S. citizens.

[bristolboy]

5 hours ago, Scott said:

Here's from the US Bureau of Prisons:

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons — whose data was last updated on November 24, 2018 — 19.3% of federal inmates are citizens of Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, or "other/unknown." The rest (80.7%) are U.S. citizens.

I believe that those figures include people who are being incarcerated or detained for immigration violations.

[Scott]

22 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

I believe that those figures include people who are being incarcerated or detained for immigration violations.

Yes, immigration violations fall under federal laws.  

[Cryingdick]

On 1/12/2019 at 12:10 AM, bristolboy said:

But no changes to the H-2B visas which allows Trump to bring in foreign workers for extremely low pay. Maybe not as low as the illegals his company employs but still..

 

The very lowest earners coming in are championed by the dems these days. Who would have thought that the dems would be the representatives of the rich plantation owners?

[Joe Mcseismic]

Didn't his wife come in on an "Expert" type visa?

[keemapoot]

1 minute ago, Joe Mcseismic said:

Didn't his wife come in on an "Expert" type visa?

Yes, but immigration misread it. She wrote "expertise in gold-digging," and they thought she was a geologist mining expert.