On April 18, 2017, President Trump signed a new Executive Order, “Buy American and Hire American.” In this order, Trump directs DOL, DOJ, DHS, and DOS to review the current laws of the H-1B visa program and suggests “reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries.” The order also instructs these agencies to review all visa programs and investigate and eliminate fraud and abuse in order to protect US workers. The following are important points about this order from AILA’s talking points:
• It will have no immediate impact on H-1Bs, since many of the changes to the H-1B program would require timely and unpredictable legislative action or rulemaking;
• There is very little evidence of fraud in the H-1B program and it already includes provisions to deter fraud and abuse, which is paid for by the $500 Fraud Detection Fee;
• The H-1B program is critical to allow businesses to acquire access to foreign professionals with valuable skills, without which many businesses would be stymied from growing. The H-1B program is not used to replace US workers, especially with the onerous requirements and fees that make the comparative hiring of a US worker easier and less costly to an employer.
• H-1B visas do not depress wages for US workers. In fact, there is some evidence that they actually raise overall wages. On average, H-1B visa holders earn more than similarly employed US workers.
• The H-1B program creates jobs for US workers and does not create greater unemployment for them. Also, the unemployment rate for H-1B specialty occupations is very low as compared to the national unemployment rate. This is because the H-1B program is only for positions requiring a bachelor’s degree or equivalent specialized knowledge in a particular field.
• US employers do not hire H-1B workers to save money, since the program is expensive. Most employers use the H-1B because they cannot find qualified US workers.
• H-1B workers are vital to our economy across all industries, including our healthcare system, and our manufacturing and energy industries. In order for US companies to be able to grow and compete globally they must be given the opportunity to hire the best and the brightest from all over the world.
• The greatest improvement to the H-1B program would be the elimination of the statutory cap of 65,000 for those with a bachelor’s degree and 20,000 additional numbers for advanced degrees. There are still provisions to protect US workers under current H-1B law, including a prevailing wage requirement and a recruitment requirement for H-1B dependent employers (those employers with a significant percentage of H-1B workers).