Key immigration program is about to undergo a big change

The Trump administration continues to work to put Americans first.

Fox News reports that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is making another change to America’s guest worker program, one that should be a big help to the American worker. 

A change in priorities

The change would be to the H-1B visa program. Currently, the program works as follows: the DHS receives a large number of H-1B visa applications, those applications are filtered by a randomized lottery, the “winners” of that lottery are individually scrutinized, and a limited number of visas are awarded.

The result of this program is that foreign workers have replaced American workers. That’s because companies can pay these foreign workers less thereby keeping their wages lower.

The DHS, however, is now implementing a change to this process. Instead of the lottery, the applications will be separated into four pre-existing wage levels, the first being the lowest, and the fourth, the highest. Those in the fourth wage level will then be allowed to apply for an H-1B visa first, then those in the third level, and so on, until the limited number of H-1B visas run out.

In other words, higher-paid applicants, under this new system, would get prioritized so as to open up spots in lower-income areas for American workers who under the old system lost out to foreign workers.

The DHS is predicting that this change will have a big impact going forward. In 2019, under the old system, for example, 60 percent of the H-1B visa went to the two lowest wage levels.

Now, under the new system, the DHS is predicting that neither of the lower two levels will get any H-1B visas. Instead, the limited number of these visas will go to the third and fourth level wage earners.

Americans first

This is only one of a number of rule changes that the Trump administration has announced in the past month.

The Department of Labor, also, is implementing a change to the way the “prevailing wage” is set. According to Fox, “The prevailing wage is what the DOL calculates to be the average wage of similarly employed workers in a specific occupation — and employers must pay to H-1B workers to ensure wages of U.S. workers are not undercut.”

In addition, the DHS is looking to change the definition of “specialty occupation.” This, the hope is, will make it more difficult for companies to bring in immigrants, thereby opening up spots for American workers.

It’s safe to say that few presidents have fought harder for the American worker than President Donald Trump.

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