It also said that the Trump administration is looking to close the loopholes that have allowed employers in the US to replace American workers with low-cost foreign labour.
Washington| White House officials have said that US President Donald Trump has asked his administration to “reform” the H-1B visa system and move in the direction of merit-based immigration.
“Moving to a merit-based immigration system,” the White House said in a statement after the President proclaimed the temporary suspension of H1B and other work visas till December. The statement said that the Trump Administration will reform the immigration system to prioritize the highest-skilled workers and protect American jobs.
The White House said that under these reforms the H1B program will prioritize those workers who are offered the highest wage, ensuring that the highest-skilled applicants are admitted.
It also said that the Trump administration is looking to close the loopholes that have allowed employers in the US to replace American workers with low-cost foreign labour.
The White House further added that These reforms will help protect the wages of American workers and ensure that foreign labour entering our country is high skilled and does not undercut the United States labour market.
“The more permanent actions that he is directing us to take include reforming the H-1B system to move in the direction of a more merit-based system. You hear the president talk all the time about getting the best and the brightest, and you also hear him talking about protecting American jobs. So, these reforms will do both,” a senior officer in the Trump administration told reporters during a conference call.
“Up until this year, those visas have been distributed through random lottery… The president has instructed us to get rid of the lottery and replace it with ranking the salaries — so the top 85,000 salary offers among the 225,000 or so applicants will get visas,” the official further added.
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