Dec. 23 (UPI) — The Trump administration announced new rules Tuesday for the H-1B visa program that officials say will attract skilled immigrants and ease pressure on lower-wage U.S. workers.
The Department of Homeland Security announced that the rule change would replace the current lottery system for the visas with one that gives “greater weight to those with higher skills.” The new rules are part of President Donald Trump’s clampdown on immigration, which he has argued has come at the expense of U.S. workers.
The federal government typically issues about 85,000 H-1B visas, which are sought by tech companies and other professional services looking for overseas talent.
But some employers have used the lottery process to attract lower-skilled foreign workers who can drive down wages for domestic employees, according to the department’s press statement.
“The existing random selection process of H-1B registrations was exploited and abused by U.S. employers who were primarily seeking to import foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement.
The new weighted selection will incentivize employers to instead seek visas for higher-paid and higher-skilled foreign workers, he added.
The final rule is scheduled to go into effect on Feb. 27 and will be in place for next year’s visa season.
The change comes months after Trump signed a pair of executive orders focused on how affluent and higher-skilled immigrants could gain entry into the United States. Those included a $1 million “gold card” visa and a $100,000 employer fee for the H-1B visa.
Business groups balked at the new fee for the H-1B visa, which had previously cost a $215 registration fee.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce challenged the new fee in court. However, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the president had the authority to impose it.
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