But his new executive order only overhauls the much discussed H-1B visa program, targeting high-skilled foreign labor.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in Wisconsin on Tuesday directing federal agencies to implement the "Buy American, Hire American" rhetoric of his campaign. In this case, the reports are about granting visas for highly skilled foreign workers and ensuring that government purchasing programs buy American made goods as required by law. Under the current system, visas are awarded on a lottery basis, which critics say has led to exploitation by firms who use the program to hire lower paid employees. "Everyone in my administration will be expected to enforce every last Buy American provision on behalf of the American worker, and we are going to investigate every single trade deal that undermines these provisions", he said. Reports state that the order will not affect other such guest worker visas like the H-2B seasonal worker visa used by USA farms and agriculturists and Trump's own resorts.
The current H-1B programme, which is lottery-based, allows a maximum of 65,000 visas for the general category and a further 20,000 for people who have a United States master's degree from an accredited institution.
Overall, IT and consulting company Infosys holds the largest number of H-1B visas, with almost a third of the total visas issues, according to a site that tracks visas issued.
Senior US administration officials had earlier praised the executive order as a "historic step" that would help protect American manufacturers and American workers.
The new executive order, of course, leaves the H-2B visa system and application process completely unchanged.
Xi urges restraint on North Korea in phone call with Trump
However, the group said it was unclear whether the site was in a "tactical pause" before another test or was carrying out normal operations.
In recent years, the United States has been overwhelmed by applications for the programme. The number of applications for H-1B visas fell to 199,000 this year from 236,000 in 2016, according US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Tech companies have been bracing for Trump to make changes to the H-1B program.
"I know he won't because he made a promise he's going to fix this for the hard working men and women, and we can't bankrupt the middle class of this country to give them insurance in name only", Trump Jr. said.
Congress for years has debated proposals to reform the visa program. The regulations require that H-1B workers be paid the higher of the "prevailing wage or actual wage" being paid by the employer.
It is thought that new limits on foreign work visas could be especially painful for the technology sector, which has been a keen employer of overseas skilled workers and has spawned new start-ups in the country. And while we are on the subject, something needs to be said about the J-1 visa program so often used by foreign students for summer jobs.
Comments