H1B Visa Latest News Summary: Federal government jobs will now be only available for U.S. citizens. This executive order mandates all federal agencies to ensure that “only United States citizens and nationals are appointed to the competitive service.”
THE PRESIDENT: Today I’m signing an executive order to ensure that the federal government lives by a very simple rule: Hire American. We’ve been doing it at a level that hasn’t been done maybe ever.
Remarks by President Trump in a Meeting with U.S. Tech Workers and Signing of an Executive Order on Hiring American
Contents
- August 3 executive order on H1B visa
- Behind the scenes of H1B visa latest news
- Possible changes in H-1B regulations
- Side note: Trump’s salary
August 3rd executive order on H1B visa
The Executive Order prevents federal agencies from hiring any foreign workers. Additionally, the order also requires all “Federal agencies to complete an internal audit and assess whether they are in compliance with the requirement that only United States citizens and nationals are appointed to the competitive service.” Therefore it is highly likely that any federal employees with non-immigrant visa will be removed from the employment in the near future.
Behind the scenes of H1B visa latest news
If you live in Tennessee, you might have heard of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which was created by the congressional charter as a part of the New Deal project on May 18, 1933. Recently, a federally owned corporation laid off around 200 American workers to “outsource 20 percent of its technology jobs to companies based in foreign countries.” Trump criticized this decision by saying “the CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Jeffrey Lyash, made a disastrous and heartless decision.” and fired two board members of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The President urged the TVA to reverse the decision, otherwise, he warned that “then more board members will be removed.”
Possible changes in H-1B regulations
During the remark, the President mentioned that “we’re finalizing H-1B regulations so that no American worker is replaced ever again.” Although there are no details yet as to how the new H-1B regulations are going to play out, it is foreseeable that H-1B employers may have to prove that they are not going to replace American workers at the time that they file the H-1B applications.
Work visas like H-1B have been viewed as a threat to the U.S. economy and national security. For example, the Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak which President Trump signed on Monday, the 22nd of June, says “The entry of additional workers through the H-1B, H-2B, J, and L nonimmigrant visa programs, therefore, presents a significant threat to employment opportunities for Americans affected by the extraordinary economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.”
Besides the economical threat of work visas, H-1B was also accused of being abused that increase unlawful stays of non-immigrant visa holders. In this spirit, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security have been working on reforming the working visa (H-1B) regulations in a way that protects American workers and to reinforce the national safety. From interviews and documents, it can be predicted that the H-1B system is going to be in a direction of a more merit-based system and I discussed further in the blog post titled Trump H1B Visa suspension 6/24~12/31 2020. This merit-based H-1B system idea was also reiterated by the President in the H1B visa latest news. While the Trump talks about the importance of keeping American employees in the federal government jobs, he claimed that “H1-Bs should be used for top, highly paid talent to create American jobs, not as inexpensive labor program to destroy American jobs.” In this light, it is possible that new revised H-1B regulations set some salary baseline for H1B applicants.
According to President Donald J. Trump Is Ensuring that Americans Are Not Displaced by Foreign Workers Using Federal Dollars, The Department of Labor will also “finalize guidance to prevent H-1B employers from moving H-1B workers to other employers’ job sites to displace Americans workers.” Based on this statement, transferring the H-1B sponsor process will be more complicated by adding additional steps for H-1B employers in the near future.
In this post, the newly signed executive order on H1B was discussed. Most higher positions in federal agencies were not available for non-immigrant visa holders anyway, but due to this proclamation, no position will be available for H-1B visa holders. Through this proclamation, we could see that more H1-B regulations are to come, such as minimum salary for H-1B applicants and limitations on transferring H-1B sponsors. Next, there was an interesting remark in the presidential remark regarding the president’s salary, so it will be covered briefly in the following paragraph.
Side note: Trump’s salary
Have you wondered how much Trump is earning for serving as president of the United States? Well, he didn’t specify the amount, but he said it is below $500,000. While he was making statements regarding the importance of appointing CEO of federal agencies who is willing to keep its missions as a public entity, he clearly mentioned that the salary of the president is below $500,000 a year. Also, he proudly said that he has been donated his full salary and he doesn’t take it a t all.
But the new CEO must be paid no more than $500,000 a year, which is still a significant amount more than the President of the United States makes. And I donate my salary. I’ve donated it. From what I hear, I’m the only President to do that. You’ll have to check on that, but that’s what I’ve heard. I’m very surprised to hear that. But I donate my full salary; I don’t take it.
Remarks by President Trump in a Meeting with U.S. Tech Workers and Signing of an Executive Order on Hiring American
