WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration on Tuesday announced significant changes to the H-1B visa program for high-skilled workers, substantially raising the wages that U.S. companies must pay foreign hires and narrowing eligibility criteria for applicants.
Top administration officials framed the changes as a way to protect American jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, even though the Trump administration first committed to overhauling the program in 2017 as part of its efforts to reduce the number of foreign nationals employed in the United States.
"With millions of Americans looking for work, and as the economy continues its recovery, immediate action is needed to guard against the risk lower-cost foreign labor can pose to the well-being of U.S. workers," Patrick Pizzella, the deputy secretary of labor, told reporters Tuesday.
The Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security rules will directly affect foreign workers and employers, especially tech companies that have long supported the H-1B program and pushed hard for its expansion.
Kenneth Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of homeland security, said he expected the changes to cut by one-third the number of petitions filed annually for the coveted visas.
The changes will be published this week as "interim final rules," meaning that the agency believes it has "good cause" to claim exemption from the normal requirement to obtain feedback from the public before finalizing them.
Immigration lawyers and experts predicted that the changes would be swiftly challenged in court because they bypassed the normal regulatory process.
The Labor Department rule, which takes effect upon publication, would increase wages across the board for foreign workers, based on surveys of salaries in each profession. Companies would have to pay entry-level workers in the program in the 45th percentile of their profession's salary rather than the 17th percentile. Wages for higher-skilled workers would rise to the 95th percentile, up from the 67th percentile.
The Department of Homeland Security's rule, which takes effect in 60 days, would also tighten the eligibility for visa applicants. The rule would require the foreign workers to have a degree in the "specialty occupation" they apply for, rather than any college degree. Some would also need to show how their studies provided "a body of highly specialized knowledge" for a potential job in the United States.
The largest share of H-1B visa holders are employed by the tech sector, where they work as computer engineers and software developers. However, the visas are also issued to architects, accountants and physicians, among a variety of professionals.
The rule will almost certainly have an adverse effect on rural hospitals and other health care providers that depend on a steady pipeline of physicians from abroad because they cannot attract enough American doctors, who generally prefer to practice in urban areas.