Trump’s policies make it hard for H1B visa - Fusion - WeRIndia

While American President Donald Trump has infamously promised to build a physical border wall to cut off the USA from its southern neighbour Mexico, it seems that he has already erected an economic “invisible wall” with all foreign neighbours.

This “wall” is making it increasingly difficult for companies to hire skilled workers from foreign countries.

While these policies certainly follow Trump’s “America First” agenda, they directly contradict one of his statements in his State of the Union Address in January, where he proposed to move towards a “merit-based immigration system”, where people who are skilled, want to work, and can contribute to society will be admitted.

Contrasting that statement, the new policies enacted by the American government are making it harder and harder for these workers to be employed.

There have been new restrictions placed on the H-1B visa, which is one of the main ways for Indian workers to eventually gain American citizenship, and several rules from the Obama administration that encouraged immigrant entrepreneurship have been dismantled.

Proposals have also been made to eliminate work authorization for the spouses of high-skilled workers.

These new policies are creating hardship for businesses, who are putting their time and money into recruiting and hiring skilled foreign workers.

Although the new restrictions on the H-1B visa were enacted under Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” rhetoric, they are causing significant disruption in American businesses.

This disruption is caused by the increased delays in the administrative processing of visa applications. The delays for these foreign workers can last for months, or even over a year.

Additionally, all employment-based green card applicants must now attend in-person interviews under an expansion of requirements for those who are seeking permanent residency.

America is continuing to build this invisible economic wall between itself and other countries, which is not only making it harder for the lives of foreign workers, but it is also disrupting their own American businesses.

Image credit: Donald Trump image by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Image Reference: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/30020836983