Overhaul of H-1B US visas discussed by Trump

The transition team for President-Elect, Donald Trump, has been considering methods of revamping a temporary US visa program to bring high-skilled foreign workers to fill jobs in the US, sources close to the discussions reveal. Last month, chief executives of tech firms met with the team at Trump Tower to discuss the possibilities for changing the distribution of H-1B US visas, which are primarily used by the technology industry.

Stephen Miller, Trump’s senior policy adviser, has proposed getting rid of the current lottery system used to distribute the US visas and replacing it with one that would favor US visa petitions for high paying jobs, sources claim. H-1B US visas are aimed at foreign nationals who work in specialty occupations, which need a high level of education. These include computer programmers, engineers and scientists, US Citizenship and Immigration Services says.

65,000 such US visas are awarded by the US government every year, which companies say are used to recruit the brightest talents. But, a majority of these US visas end up being given to outsourcing companies, causing skeptics to allege that they are being used by these firms just to fill lower-level IT jobs. Critics have also slammed the system for benefiting outsourcing companies that flood the lottery system with massive amounts of applications.

The IEEE-USA has also pushed for the idea that Miller, who has been an outspoken critic of the potential for abuse in the H-1B US visa program, proposed during the tech meeting.