As President Trump returned to the President this week, as he embarked on a thorough immigration crackdown, unresolved a crack that surface among some influential supporters last month in the role of skilled foreign workers in the US labor market. I left it as it was.
The conflict of opinions over the H-1B visa program, which allows skilled workers such as software engineers to work in the United States, is conflicted between the immigration hardliners and the most prominent supporters of Trump in the high-tech industry. There is. This program is not enough to find qualified American workers.
It is unclear where Trump lands. He promised to abolish the H-1B visa during his first term, but said last month it was a “great program.”
How does the H-1B visa program work?
In 1990, when a shortage of labor was imminent, Congress passed a bill to create an H-1B program. When President George Bush signed and enacted as a law, the program said, “It promotes immigration of very talented people, such as scientists, technicians, and educators.”
Employers have used this visa (the validity period can be extended in three years), hired foreign workers who have specialized skills in science and technology, and find American workers with similar abilities. Fill the hole.
The employer submits a petition to the government on behalf of the foreign workers who want to hire, and explains the job and the qualifications of those who have been selected to get their duties.
The H-1B program gives a temporary status in the United States and does not give residence. However, many employers support the acquisition of the Green Cards with the H-1B visa, which allows workers to take the path to US citizenship.
Who is the worker?
Congress has issued 65,000 H-1B visas every year to a bachelor's or equivalent degree, and has issued more than 20,000 H-1B visas to more than a master's degree. Universities and research institutions are exempted from these upper limit.
Many of the workers who have received a visa are software engineers, computer programmers, and other technologies. According to the US Citizens and Immigration Bureau, companies that employ the most H-1B visa holders last year include Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and IBM.
But this is not just about Silicon Valley. H-1B recipients are in other occupations such as education, medical care, and manufacturing.
There is no upper limit in each country, and the majority of the recipients (between about two -thirds and fourth) come from India.
Will H-1B holder be an alternative to American workers?
Employers must prove that they have searched for qualified domestic candidates and that H-1B workers do not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of American workers.
In this program, pay the employer to the H-1B workers at least the average wage of the city, the cities that are the bases, or the average wage of American workers who do the same job. I am obliged. Companies are banned from paying H-1B workers lower wages lower than other workers with similar skills and qualifications. Nevertheless, according to the Institute of Economic Policy, about 60 % of occupations in 2019 are wages of local occupations because the Ministry of Labor is “wide discretion rights” regarding the H-1B wage level setting. The median is said to be “significantly lower”.
Critics often use H-1B visas to hire workers who are happy to accept lower salaries than Americans, and to attract immigration to the work conducted by American workers. There is an episode that this program was used.
In 2015, about 250 technical workers were fired at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, and was told that it was necessary to train the successor (H-1B visa holder brought by an outsourcing company). 。 Store in India. In the same year, similar incidents influenced Toys R Us and New York Life Insurance Company employees. However, several studies have shown that visa programs can help innovation and growth, leading to an increase in employment, including US -born workers.
How did the Republican opinion be divided into this issue, and what is the position of President Trump?
In December, in the Republican Party, there was a crack about how much the next Trump administration should enter the Immigrant in the H-1B visa.
Former H-1B holder, Elon Musk, wrote in X's expertise in the United States that “the United States has no enough amount.” Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla obtained 724 visa this year.
Former Republican President Vivek Ramaswami, a former Republican presidential candidate, who recently resigned from Musk to lead with Musk, accused the US culture that it would create unsuitable human resources for skilled technical positions.
On the other side of the debate, there were far -right activists Laura Roomer and Trump's long -standing Steven K. Bannon. In December, Bannon welcomed influencers and researchers on the popular podcast “War Room” and criticized the “Major High Tech Politics”, which supports the H-1B program.
In 2020, Mr. Trump signed a presidential decree to suspend a new H-1B visa, saying that this visa should be given only to the most skilled and high-paying applicants. It should never be used. ” In response to the cancellation of the federal judge, the Trump administration has demanded a visa qualification rules and pays a company to pay a high salary to the H-1B holder. Federal judge also refused some of these rules, including salary requirements.
In late December, Trump said that he had frequently used the program as a businessman and said in the debate. “I have believed in the H-1B,” he told New York Post. “I used it many times. It's a wonderful program.”
In fact, Trump seems to have used the H-1B visa program sparingly. He has been using the H-2B visa program with a similar name for simple workers such as gardens and housekeepers, as well as the H-2A program for agricultural workers for many years. With these visas, workers can stay in the country for 10 months.
