Reuters reported that data provided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shows that between Jan.1 and Aug. 31 of this year, USCIS issued 85,000 challenges or “requests for evidence” (RFEs) to H-1B petitions. This is a 45% increase compared to the same period last year which only issued around 59,000 RFEs.
The Trump administration is considering reductions in the J-1 visa category, specifically the summer work and travel program. The program has been criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for increasing competition for American workers, especially teenagers, and this category’s high visa overstay rate.
The Obama administration awarded 2.3 million work permits to foreign workers in 2016 according to a new report from the Department of Homeland Security. This number does not include new legal immigrants and those granted visas through guest-worker programs such as H-1B visas. This means that around 4 million legal foreign workers were added the U.S. economy and job market in FY16 alone.
According to a recent DHS report the USCIS has approved 2,634,328 H-1B applications from FY07- June 30th, 2017. The report shows that over 100,000 foreign workers are imported to the U.S. through this program every year to compete with American workers.
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows that there is no evidence of a labor shortage to support the recent H-2B visa increase. DHS Secretary John Kelly announced this week that he will use the authority granted by Congress to approve an additional 15,000 H-2B visas over the annual 66,000 cap.
DHS Secretary John Kelly has decided to use the authority granted to him by Congress to provide 15,000 more H-2B visas through the remainder of the fiscal year. In the latest omnibus spending bill, Congress granted authority to DHS to approve around 70,000 additional H-2B visas in FY17 over the 66,000 cap.
Should American businesses work harder to hire teenagers who want the job? By giving businesses an offer they can't refuse, the U.S. government's answer is "no."
A $100 million dollar industry facilitated by the State Department gives employers a significant discount on foreign hires.
This week the Trump administration delayed Pres. Obama’s policy of offering humanitarian parole to foreign entrepreneurs to give them temporary legal status in the U.S. Historically this parole has only been used during a time of emergency.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) has put a hold on Pres. Trump’s nominee for USCIS director, Lee Francis Cissna, until DHS Secretary Kelly increases the number of H-2B visas available for this year. In the latest omnibus spending bill, Congress granted authority to DHS to approve 70,000 additional H-2B visas over the current cap of 66,000.
The Pueblo Chieftain reports illegal aliens are returning to Mexico rather than run the risk of being deported or sent to prison for immigration violations. Self-deportation is prompting growers to increase their reliance on legal guest workers or to shift away from crops that require field labor.
A group of Senators led by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) sent a letter to DHS Secretary John Kelly asking him to use his authority granted by Congress to increase the H-2B visa cap. In May, Congress passed the provision that would allow for another 70,000 visas to be issued in the current fiscal year.
Breitbart’s Neil Munro reports that 329,158 foreign students or graduates of American universities received work permits under the Department of Homeland Security’s Optional Practical Training (OPT) program in FY 2016. This represents an almost a four-fold increase over the 91,140 work permits handed out in FY 2009, according to DHS data Munro obtained. “The government is enticing employers to hire foreigners instead of Americans … it is ridiculous,” the Center for Immigration Studies’ Mark Krikorian said.
According to DHS spokesman David Lapan, DHS Secretary John Kelly will use the authority granted by Congress to increase the number of H-2B visas beyond the cap limit. Lapan said that the number of additional visas is still being decided but should be set soon.
The food processing industry has a history of seeking out desperate workers who will accept lower wages and deplorable conditions. There are not enough foreign workers, they say, to take these jobs...at the wages they are offering.
If these businesses took the radical step of raising wages, the Greeley Tribune warns, our cheap food would be... less cheap.
Harvard economics professor George Borjas wrote in a recent blog that he's seeing a shift in the narrative used by immigration expansionists to support an increase in legal immigration levels, focusing less on the benefits of mass immigration on the economy and more on the negative impacts of reducing immigration.
The Department of Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta announced today that the agency will ramp of its efforts to protect American workers and more aggressively confront employers that are committing visa fraud and abuse. This release comes after the agency has completed the review of the H-1B and other foreign worker visa programs that was required by Pres. Trump's ‘Buy American, Hire American’ executive order.
Acting USCIS Director James McCament responded to a letter by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) stating that the agency has multiple investigations, “regarding the possible misuse of the H-1B program” by employers such as Disney, Northeast Utilities (Eversource Energy), and the University of California San Francisco. All three of these companies were highlighted in the 60 Minutes investigation on how American workers are being replaced by foreign H-1B workers.
According to DHS spokesman, David Lapan, DHS Secretary John Kelly has not made a decision to increase H-2B visas. This is a slight back track from the DHS Secretary’s initial statement on May 25, where he said he would likely grant the increase.
Houston Chronicle -- Lomi Kriel
Others praised his efforts, however, pointing out that it was a key part of his campaign and part of why many voters elected him.
The Blaze -- Kevin J. Mooney
A case in point that is worth greater attention and scrutiny in the run up to the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries is the H-2B Visa program that was approved as part of the omnibus bill President Barack Obama signed into law in December. The provision concerning foreign guest workers is found on page 701 of the bill.
Last week Pres. Obama used a provision called “humanitarian parole” to give temporary status to immigrant entrepreneurs, historically this parole has only been used during a time of emergency.
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced S.2266 on Tuesday that would limit the abuse of the H-1B visa, especially by bigger tech companies. The bill comes as a response to companies such as Disney and Toys 'R' Us laying off American workers and replacing them with cheaper, foreign workers.
In a Roll Call op-ed published today, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) called for the end of the EB-5 visa program that allows foreign nationals to buy green cards and eventually gain U.S. citizenship. The program is set to expire in December unless renewed by Congress.
American tech workers who have been replaced by H-1B workers are claiming discrimination based on national origin and taking their case to court. These court cases are responses to the increasing practice of organizations, especially in the IT industry, of laying off American employees after they have trained their H-1B visa replacement.
In an article published on National Review’s website on September 29, Reihan Salam noted the transformation brought about by post-1965 immigration, and he understands why much attention has been paid to the changing demographics of the country. But his argument is that the “far more consequential effect of the post-1965 wave has been the increase in the number of U.S. residents with low levels of literacy and numeracy (i.e.
The New York Times is reporting that Toys 'R' Us used the H-1B program to bring in temporary foreign-workers to watch and learn from employees before laying off the American workers and moving the jobs to India.
The Senate has introduced a continuing resolution to fund the government through Dec. 11 that would reauthorize E-Verify and the EB-5 visa program. Both programs were set to expire at the end of the fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30.
Hewlett Packard announced this week that the company plans to cut about 10% of its workforce, roughly around 30,000 American workers, while expanding the use of H-1B foreign worker visas.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) responded to President Obama's new L-1B visa policy memorandum with a letter requesting answers on the effects that this new policy may have on American workers.
When the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) tried to post four recent reports on jobs to Facebook last week they realized they were blocked.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled against DHS in a lawsuit over the regulation that allows non-student foreign labor to compete with American workers.
A recent poll by CareerBuilder/Harris Poll of 2,321 hiring and human resource managers show that 73 percent of employers disapprove of issuing more H-1B visas for foreign workers.
Breitbart News acquired the written responses from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to the Senate Judiciary Immigration and the National Interest Subcommittee Republicans that showed that the the Obama administration has issued over 7.4 million work permits over the legal limits set by Congress over the past 6 years.
Brookings Institute -- Neil G. Ruiz and Jill H. Wilson
To help inform the H-1B debate, we analyzed new data (received through a Freedom of Information Act request) showing which metropolitan areas received the most H-1B visa approvals in 2013.
A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies has found that the United States issued nearly 700,000 guest-worker visas in 2012. This weekend, labor and business groups agreed on terms that would create a new low-skill, guest-worker program, creating up to 200,000 new temporary work visas each year. Business groups claim the U.S. doesn't issue enough guest-worker visas, specifically low-skill worker visas.
In a startling reversal from recent years, U.S. graduate schools' admission offers to prospective international students fell sharply this year, with several countries seeing double-digit declines, according to a report by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).
Utah business leaders with the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce proposed a plan to the state legislature that would allow undocumented immigrants to work in the state for two years and receive health insurance funded by a special guest worker tax. the plan addresses concerns made by local businesses who are concerned about keeping their workforces intact while abiding by state and federal laws.