Trump to sign executive order to overhaul H-1B visa program on Tuesday

Trump aims to put an end to visa abuse. 

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order dubbed “Buy American, Hire American”on Tuesday that would decide on the fate of H-1B beneficiaries. The order would overhaul the existing H-1B program, and clarify the administration’s stand on the most popular visa category for the highly skilled foreign workers.

According to The Hill, Trump will be signing the executive order out of his office in a manufacturing plant located in Kenosha, Wis. Reportedly, the new executive order will make it difficult for the US companies to hire workers on H-1B visa to fill middle-income jobs; thus, creating more job opportunity for the Americans.

During a news briefing, senior officials of the Trump administration had called the current H-1B visa program as a lottery system that indiscriminately allots H-1B visas to contracting firms who recruit low-skilled, low-wage workers who are used to replace the skilled Americans workers.

They also said that there is a need of a revised H-1B system to stop the misuse of the popular work visa program, and reinstate the real purpose of bringing highly skilled foreign employees with specialized knowledge and technical skills.

Trump during his campaign days has used H-1B abuse as a major rhetoric and has even called the victims on stage to highlight how skilled Americans are deprived of jobs due to the abuse of the visa system by the US companies.

The expected executive order might not have immediate ramifications on the existing H-1B visa system. It is speculated that Trump will ask the Labor Justice, Homeland Security and State Departments to come up with a holistic plan that can overhaul the existing H-1B program and devise recommendations that can be achieved administratively or through legislation.

According to the sources from the administration who spoke to the newspaper, the new executive order on H-1B will not cut the number of visas that are given annually but will use the wage scale of the applicant as a criterion for giving preference for H-1B approval. The officials also said that the order will enforce “more vigorous stance” if companies are found misusing the visa program.