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发帖数: 6601 | 1 Potential Changes to High-Skilled Immigration Programs in 2018
Published on Published on December 15, 2017
Jason Finkelman
http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/potential-changes-high-skilled-immigration-programs-2018-finkelman/
The Trump administration’s future immigration intentions were recently
announced in their semi-annual Unified Agenda. The Unified Agenda lists
possible regulations under development by federal agencies for the coming
year. The announcement indicates the administration’s plans to undo Obama
administration immigration benefits and impose tighter restrictions on
nonimmigrant visa categories, such as the H-1B, H-4, and Optional Practical
Training (OPT) for F-1 students.
The agenda specifies the administration’s intent to make the following
policy changes in connection with Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American”
executive order:
H-1B Eligibility: Redefining what a “speciality occupation” is for H-1B
visa purposes to “increase the focus on truly obtaining the best and
brightest.” The proposal would also “revise the definition of employment
and employer-employee relationship to better protect U.S. workers and wages.
” This includes “additional requirements to ensure employers pay
appropriate wages to H-1B visa holders.” The rule would also impose
additional restrictions on H-1B dependent employers that rely on large H-1B
workforces and those employers who have H-1B employees working off-site.
H-1B Lottery: Revising the H-1B visa lottery system to establish an
electronic pre-registration program for cap-subject H-1B applicants, and
tweaking the electronic lottery selection process to award visas to the “
most skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries.”
H-4 Work Authorization: Elimination of the regulation that allow H-4 visa
holders (spouses of H-1B visa holders) to apply for work authorization. The
Trump administration has previously indicated its intent to remove this
Obama rule which has provided work permits to thousands of H-4 spouses.
OPT for F-1 Students: Reforming the OPT program for foreign students (which
allows international students to work in the U.S.) in order to reduce fraud
and improve protections for U.S. workers who may be impacted by employment
of foreign students. Plans include limiting student work opportunities and
terminating Obama’s STEM-OPT extension rule, which provides extended work
authorization for foreign students with U.S. STEM degrees, from 17 months to
24 months.
These announcements do not currently modify or rescind any of the above
mentioned immigration programs, and any changes to immigration policy can
only be accomplished through notice and comment of proposed rulemaking in
the federal register. This means that individuals and companies that may be
affected by potential policy changes will have an opportunity to submit
comments to the government before the policy becomes effective. The notice/
comment process can typically take in excess of 6 months, which means the
administration may not have enough time to enact changes to the H-1B visa
program in time for this year’s filing season (which begins on April 2,
2018).
As always, individuals and employers who may impacted by any of these
potential changes should contact us with questions on how to best prepare.
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