tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/h-1b-visa-25363/articlesH-1B Visa – The Conversation2020-06-29T16:27:25Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1413292020-06-29T16:27:25Z2020-06-29T16:27:25ZTrump’s suspension of H-1B visas is a racist attack on immigrants — and a bad move for the economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343817/original/file-20200624-132965-1ulz973.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Highly skilled workers and international students in the U.S. are the latest group to be targeted by the Trump adminstration's restrictive immigration policies.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On June 22, U.S. President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-suspending-entry-aliens-present-risk-u-s-labor-market-following-coronavirus-outbreak/">ordered the temporary suspension</a> of new work visas for temporary workers, including highly skilled workers (H-1B visa). Trump’s decision may appear to be based on his claim to protect American jobs, but the realities are more disturbing. </p>
<p>Trump’s actions are in line with his racist, anti-immigrant, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/04/stephen-miller-trump-administration-white-nationalism">white nationalist agenda</a>. While this move will surely solidify Trump’s support among his voting base, it will likely come at the expense of the U.S. economy and STEM research. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/01/more-than-nine-in-ten-people-worldwide-live-in-countries-with-travel-restrictions-amid-covid-19/">Most governments announced that their border crossings would only be allowed for citizens and permanents residents</a> soon after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. But the U.S. has a <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520280083/how-race-is-made-in-america">long history</a> of using global crises to implement racist immigration policy. </p>
<p>The current decision invokes that history as it disproportionately denies entries to migrants of colour. </p>
<h2>Hope and panic</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/nativedocuments/Characteristics_of_H-1B_Specialty_Occupation_Workers_FY17.pdf">More than 75 per cent</a> of temporary workers come to the U.S. from countries of the Global South. The U.S. grants more than half of all H-1B visas to workers from India, followed by eight other Asian countries. </p>
<p>Trump has made spectacular public endorsements of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48304975">merit-based immigration policies</a>, implying that the U.S. especially values H-1B visa holders. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344099/original/file-20200625-33546-1ry94hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344099/original/file-20200625-33546-1ry94hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344099/original/file-20200625-33546-1ry94hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344099/original/file-20200625-33546-1ry94hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344099/original/file-20200625-33546-1ry94hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344099/original/file-20200625-33546-1ry94hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344099/original/file-20200625-33546-1ry94hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Trump’s decision is of particular concern to female migrants and those with families.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)</span></span>
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<p>At the same time, however, he has sporadically threatened to rescind the Obama-era ruling that allows work permits for spouses of H-1B workers. He has also signed executive orders like “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-executive-order-buy-american-hire-american/">Buy American, Hire American</a>” designed to shrink H-1B and other temporary worker programs. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-war-against-immigrant-workers-and-their-spouses-95702">Trump's war against immigrant workers and their spouses</a>
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<p>This inconsistent signalling to the H-1B visa holders serves a dual purpose. Firstly, it keeps Trump’s nationalist, predominantly white voter base satisfied. Secondly, it keeps temporary workers in a limbo state between panic and hope, unsure of their footing and constantly anxious about their status.</p>
<p>The politics here leverages a particular element of human rationality that sociologist Eduardo Bonilla Silva calls <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122418816958">racialized emotions</a>. These are feelings and emotions that help perpetuate racist sentiments and racial segregation. These are emotions President Trump has used effectively since the early days of his campaign. </p>
<h2>Undermining the economy</h2>
<p>Trump’s political calculus becomes evident in these decisions. Despite the concerns expressed by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-workers-factbox/factbox-google-amazon-musk-take-aim-at-trump-visa-ban-idUSKBN23U1VO">major tech CEOs</a>, Trump is willing to undermine the national economy to satisfy his nationalist base. For Trump, the marginal value of suspending work visas lies in its ideological alignment with the white nationalist rhetoric he regularly espouses. This decision seemingly seeks to tap into the same racist furor mobilized against Latinx and Muslim immigrants that was instrumental in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfz011">getting him elected in 2016</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343819/original/file-20200624-132965-ocjubo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343819/original/file-20200624-132965-ocjubo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343819/original/file-20200624-132965-ocjubo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343819/original/file-20200624-132965-ocjubo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343819/original/file-20200624-132965-ocjubo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343819/original/file-20200624-132965-ocjubo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343819/original/file-20200624-132965-ocjubo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Donald Trump holds up an executive order he signed tightening the rules for technology companies seeking to bring skilled foreign workers to the U.S., on April 18, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)</span></span>
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<p>We also see the timing of this latest curb on visas as an attempt by the president to shift media attention away from a sinking economy, Black Lives Matter protests and his struggling reelection campaign. </p>
<p>The H-1B program was introduced in 1990. <a href="https://techpolicyinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/the-budgetary-effects-of-high-2007371.pdf">Since then H-1B visa holders have paid much more in taxes than they’ve received in federal benefits.</a> These funds go toward supporting Social Security, Medicare, STEM research and workforce preparedness programs. By suspending the H-1B visa program, Trump has also effectively suspended this revenue stream. This is particularly striking at a time when scientific research is critical for fighting the pandemic. </p>
<p>The suspension of work visas will also result in the loss of human capital, as some international students studying in the U.S. may be forced to return to their home countries. <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/07/10/599219792/u-s-degree-check-u-s-work-visa-still-a-challenge">U.S. companies</a>, despite having vacancies, have already become wary of hiring qualified international students who seek to remain in the country after they graduate.</p>
<p>It will not be a surprise if Trump now decides to follow through with his threat and stop work permits being issued to spouses of existing H-1B visa holders. As research shows, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1536504219854714">this will have drastic repercussions for both the families of temporary workers and the recovering economy</a>. </p>
<p>Research shows that <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/h-1b-visas-and-prevailing-wage-levels/">the U.S. tech industry relies on the exploited labour of those with H-1B visas</a>. For example, 60 per cent of H-1B positions certified by the U.S. Department of Labor are assigned wage levels well below the local median wage, and major U.S. firms including Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple and Google take advantage of this system. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1536504219854714">H-1B workers have also reported that they work longer hours than their American counterparts</a>. </p>
<p>Trump’s actions further reveal their vulnerability. Their legal status can be revoked by the stroke of a pen without any concern for their livelihoods and families, under the guise of a pandemic. </p>
<p>Trump’s actions reveal that despite their contributions to the economy, skilled workers and international students are mere pawns in his white nationalist political circus.</p>
<p><em>This is a corrected version of a story originally published on June 29, 2020. The earlier story said the H-1B visa program began in 1998 instead of 1990.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141329/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pallavi Banerjee has received funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pratim Sengupta has received funding from SSHRC and the US National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>By making skilled workers the target of his latest anti-immigration policy, U.S. president Trump signals that he is willing to play to his far right base even if it undermines America’s economic interests.Pallavi Banerjee, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of CalgaryPratim Sengupta, Professor, Learning Sciences and STEM Education, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/957022018-05-10T21:28:01Z2018-05-10T21:28:01ZTrump’s war against immigrant workers and their spouses<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218185/original/file-20180508-34024-1iq4i5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. President Donald Trump holds up an executive order to tighten the rules for technology companies seeking to bring highly skilled foreign workers to the United States in April 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-executive-order-buy-american-hire-american/">executive order</a> putting into force “Buy American and Hire American” as a policy. The order proposed to impose stricter scrutiny on the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/whd/immigration/h1b.htm">H-1B visa program.</a> </p>
<p>The H-1B program, around since the 1990s, has allowed temporary workers in “<a href="https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-workers/h-1b-specialty-occupations-dod-cooperative-research-and-development-project-workers-and-fashion-models">specialty occupations</a>,” mostly in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, to work in the United States.</p>
<p>Trump’s executive order also <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?RIN=1615-AC15&pubId=201710">proposed to revoke</a> a <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/viewEO12866Meeting?viewRule=false&rin=1615-AB92&meetingId=108&acronym=1615-DHS/USCIS">ruling by former President Barack Obama that granted</a> employment authorization documents (EAD) to the spouses of H-1B workers who hold <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-workers/employment-authorization-certain-h-4-dependent-spouses">H-4 visas</a>, popularly known as dependent visas.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-trumps-plan-to-forbid-spouses-of-h-1b-visa-holders-to-work-is-a-bad-idea-89279">Why Trump's plan to forbid spouses of H-1B visa holders to work is a bad idea</a>
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<p>In a <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2018-04-04%20USCIS%20to%20CEG%20-%20Buy%20America%2C%20Hire%20America%20update.pdf">letter dated April 4, 2018,</a> to the head of the U.S. Senate’s judiciary committee, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed that the implementation of Trump’s executive order will specifically target the H-1B program and EADs for H-4 visa holders. </p>
<p>The implications are stark. Trump’s move disproportionately affects people of colour and women, given that <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/27/key-facts-about-the-u-s-h-1b-visa-program/">more than half of the H-1B and H-4</a> visas go to South Asian and Chinese families. </p>
<p><a href="http://pallavibanerjee.info/research">My own research</a> over the past eight years has shown that visa policies have lasting imprints on the lives of H-1B and H-4 visa holders in the workplace, civil society and in families. The worst hit are highly qualified women — the primary recipients of the spousal-dependent visas. </p>
<p>While the USCIS letter has left thousands of families in <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/working-abroad/theres-still-some-hope-for-h4-visa-holders-in-us-heres-why/articleshow/63954039.cms">uncertainty and panic</a>, the implementation of Trump’s executive order also has the potential to harm American competitiveness in the global economy.</p>
<h2>The history of skilled worker migration to U.S.</h2>
<p>Historically, until 1965, immigrants of colour had restricted entry to the United States. Racialized laws were passed to <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/opinion-trumps-racialised-immigration-policy-is-a-threat-to-indians-in-us-30137">preserve whiteness</a> as the identity of the American nation.</p>
<p>The landmark <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/fifty-years-1965-immigration-and-nationality-act-continues-reshape-united-states">1965 Immigration Act</a> removed national origin quotas. It allowed specific numbers of immigrants from around the world to enter the U.S. each year for family reunification and employment. </p>
<p>Employment-based immigration received a boost in the 1990 due to the tech industry boom and the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/101st-congress/senate-bill/358">Immigration Act of 1990</a>. The act introduced the distinctive category of the non-immigrant H-1B visa for temporary workers with specialized skills, and the H-4 visa for dependent spouses and children of these workers. </p>
<p>H-1B visas also provide pathways for legal permanent residency, popularly called the Green Card, though the number of visas offered each year remains capped. </p>
<p>American borders have become friendlier for legal immigrants of colour. But the circumstances after migration are less than ideal. Temporary workers on H-1B, due to the precarity of their legal status, experience <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1163/156916306777835295">exploitation at work</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/migrant-farm-workers-vulnerable-to-sexual-violence-95839">Migrant farm workers vulnerable to sexual violence</a>
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<p>Most Indian H-1B workers have to wait much longer for a Green Card compared to similar applicants from other countries due to USCIS <a href="http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/birds-in-a-cage-the-indian-green-card-backlog/">processing backlogs</a>, exacerbated by a higher number of Indian applicants for employment-based permanent residency. </p>
<p>Added to this, until 2015, spouses of H-1B workers were denied the right to work legally or hold any independent identity. This created households that looked like <a href="http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/06/19/an-immigrant-wifes-place-in-the-home-according-to-visa-policy/">1950s-era nuclear families</a>. It forced one spouse, usually the woman, to stay home, creating deeply gendered households. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218370/original/file-20180510-34027-1lf1ndn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218370/original/file-20180510-34027-1lf1ndn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218370/original/file-20180510-34027-1lf1ndn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218370/original/file-20180510-34027-1lf1ndn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218370/original/file-20180510-34027-1lf1ndn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218370/original/file-20180510-34027-1lf1ndn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218370/original/file-20180510-34027-1lf1ndn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Until three years ago, the H-1B policy created households that looked like 1950s-era nuclear families, with one spouse, usually the woman, forced to stay home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>The dependent visa law is reminiscent of the 18th and 19th century <a href="https://law.ubalt.edu/centers/caf/pdf/Sabrina%20Balgamwalla.pdf">coverture doctrine</a> that provided husbands unfettered state-sanctioned power over their wives. The implications of the dependent H-4 visa law are grim for the families and individuals who hold this visa.</p>
<h2>25 years of dependence</h2>
<p>From 1990 to 2015, those coming to the U.S. on H-4 dependent visas were denied the right to work and forced to be economically dependent on their H-1B spouses. </p>
<p>The Green Card application backlog made matters worse. Many H-4 spouses waited 15 to 20 years for their Green Cards, which then allowed them to work legally. The wives on H-4 visas I interviewed for my research were all highly qualified, often more so than their husbands. </p>
<p>The inability to work legally left many of the women chronically depressed. They experienced loss of dignity and self-esteem. Some even contemplated suicide. In situations of <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=DU0QAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA195&dq=shivali+shah&ots=Oz4h0wCPNv&sig=7sEp2EbencPywjUKlAus8-knZSY#v=onepage&q=shivali%20shah&f=false">domestic violence</a>, these women found themselves with no support. Some women described these visas as “prison visas” or “<a href="http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/06/19/an-immigrant-wifes-place-in-the-home-according-to-visa-policy/">vegetable visas</a>” as they navigated their dependence. </p>
<p>However, the most befuddling to them was one question: Why was the U.S. failing to recognize the waste of human capital the H-4 visa holders collectively possessed? </p>
<h2>Promise and hope of the Obama era</h2>
<p>In 2015, Obama responded <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2015/02/25/2015-04042/employment-authorization-for-certain-h-4-dependent-spouses">to research</a> and a spurt of <a href="http://h4-visa-a-curse.blogspot.ca/p/home.html">online activism</a> around the issue of legal dependence. He signed an executive order that made it possible for H-4 visa holders to obtain EADs <em>after</em> they’d been <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/news/dhs-extends-eligibility-employment-authorization-certain-h-4-dependent-spouses-h-1b-nonimmigrants-seeking-employment-based-lawful-permanent-residence">approved for permanent residency</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218184/original/file-20180508-34015-1q09pi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218184/original/file-20180508-34015-1q09pi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218184/original/file-20180508-34015-1q09pi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218184/original/file-20180508-34015-1q09pi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218184/original/file-20180508-34015-1q09pi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218184/original/file-20180508-34015-1q09pi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218184/original/file-20180508-34015-1q09pi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In this April 2013 photo, the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on immigration reform, including calls to expanding the nation’s H-1B temporary skilled worker program.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)</span></span>
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<p>His order left some H-4 visa holders without permanent residency approval stranded. But it did have a positive impact on the lives of 179,600 spouses that year, and 55,000 additional spouses in subsequent years, as estimated by <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/new-rule-allows-spouses-h-1b-visa-holders-work-n312846">the USCIS</a>. </p>
<p>Many H-4 visas holders attempted to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/19/silicon-valley-wives-women-visa-immigration-work">return to work</a>. Some with specialized degrees <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/10/technology/h4-work-permits-trump/index.html">found work quickly</a>. Others found it difficult to find work, as is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1353/dem.0.0056">common for women</a> with a long employment hiatus. However, what was important was that they now had the opportunity to look for work legally. </p>
<h2>Trump’s reversal of hope</h2>
<p>Trump’s protectionist policy has been met with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/high-skilled-indian-workers-rally-for-trumps-merit-based-immigration-plan/2018/02/03/702e617e-08fd-11e8-8777-2a059f168dd2_story.html?utm_term=.5d6907984d96">protests and appeals</a> both by H-4 EAD advocacy groups and the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-18/tech-industry-urges-u-s-to-keep-work-permits-for-h-1b-spouses">global tech industry</a>. However, Trump’s stance remains inconsistent — on one hand he’s <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/donald-trump-reiterates-support-for-merit-based-immigration-1799376">supporting merit-based</a> immigration, on the other he’s clamping down on the H-1B program. </p>
<p>This has left H-1B workers and their spouses in a lurch. Many H-1B families living in the U.S. for years are now planning to return to their native countries or to move to countries <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-04-20/h-1b-workers-are-leaving-trump-s-america-for-the-canadian-dream">like Canada</a> with less draconian immigration laws. Very soon, the U.S. labour markets will struggle to find eligible workers.</p>
<p>Taking away the right to work from immigrants strips them off their human dignity. It tells them they are less than human just because they were not born in America. </p>
<p>Immigrants of colour are becoming fearful of living in and migrating to the United States. This will ultimately hurt the American economy and the United States as a nation — a country that was built on the backs of immigrants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95702/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pallavi Banerjee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to crack down on temporary skilled workers is a terrible mistake that disproportionately harms women and people of colour.Pallavi Banerjee, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/892792017-12-19T01:39:48Z2017-12-19T01:39:48ZWhy Trump’s plan to forbid spouses of H-1B visa holders to work is a bad idea<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199824/original/file-20171219-27595-v5b083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. immigration law has a complicated history with keeping families together. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Brian Snyder</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Dec. 14, the Trump administration announced a <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=201710&RIN=1615-AC15.">regulatory change</a> that would strip spouses of high-skilled foreign workers of the right to work in the United States. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/12/15/White-House-exploring-an-end-to-H-4-visa-program-for-spouses-of-H-1B-visa-holders/4811513351165/">apparent aim</a> is to promote Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-executive-order-buy-american-hire-american/">executive order</a> issued in April. It’s also part of efforts to <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/archive/uscis-will-temporarily-suspend-premium-processing-all-h-1b-petitions">scale back</a> the H-1B visa program, which allows workers to bring spouses and children under H-4 visas. </p>
<p>Besides likely having a negative impact on industries that use H-1B visas, such as information technology, software development and finance, my own research shows that it will also, intentionally or not, disproportionately harm women. </p>
<h2>Immigration policy and families</h2>
<p>There is no shortage of opinions about the merits and drawbacks of the H-1B program. </p>
<p>Critics argue that the program has been abused by companies that seek to <a href="https://theconversation.com/candidates-plans-to-change-controversial-h-1b-guestworker-program-highlight-need-for-an-overhaul-55482">replace</a> American workers or pay them <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w23153">lower wages</a>. Advocates, meanwhile, point out that foreign workers increase <a href="http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/%7Eanno/Papers/EDQ_on_immigrants_2002.pdf">innovation</a> and bring in <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/h-1b-visas-and-the-stem-shortage/">much-needed</a> high-skilled labor. </p>
<p>But there is another consideration left out of this debate: how the program directly affects the lives of the workers and their families. </p>
<p>Historically, family reunification has played a contentious role in U.S. immigration policy. Starting with the <a href="http://library.uwb.edu/Static/USimmigration/1875_page_law.html">Page Law of 1875</a> and the <a href="http://library.uwb.edu/Static/USimmigration/1882_chinese_exclusion_act.html">Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882</a>, women (predominately from Asia) were barred from migrating either as spouses or on their own. These laws were responsible for creating “bachelor societies” of immigrant men and <a href="http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2174&context=facpubs">limited</a> the establishment of permanent Asian communities in the United States. </p>
<p>Changes to immigration <a href="http://library.uwb.edu/Static/USimmigration/1943_magnuson_act.html">law</a> in the mid-20th century began to recognize the need for family migration. The <a href="http://library.uwb.edu/Static/USimmigration/1965_immigration_and_nationality_act.html">Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965</a> further reversed earlier policy by giving naturalized citizens and legal permanent residents the power to sponsor family members and made reunification a weighted factor for immigration consideration. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/101st-congress/senate-bill/358">1990 law</a> opened new avenues for family-based migration, creating the H-1B as a “temporary nonimmigrant visa” that prioritized highly skilled workers whose labor was needed for “<a href="https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-workers/h-1b-specialty-occupations-dod-cooperative-research-and-development-project-workers-and-fashion-models">specialized and complex</a>” jobs. </p>
<p>The visa is typically issued for three to six years to employers to hire a foreign worker. If employers choose to sponsor them, visa holders can then apply for permanent residency. </p>
<p>It also created the H-4 family reunification visa. Even though the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services <a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/3050365/it-careers/how-many-h-1b-workers-are-male-us-wont-say.html">doesn’t</a> release gender data, some <a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/3050365/it-careers/how-many-h-1b-workers-are-male-us-wont-say.html">estimate</a> that 85 percent of H-1Bs go to men. It is safe to presume that women make up the majority of H-4 spousal visas. </p>
<p>They are among the 22 “<a href="https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-nonimmigrant-workers">nonimmigrant</a>” visa categories that have family reunification provisions, but, like most of them, come with work restrictions. </p>
<h2>The impact of work restrictions</h2>
<p>Work authorization for the spouses of H-1B visa holders came into the spotlight in 2015. </p>
<p>The Obama administration issued an <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/news/dhs-extends-eligibility-employment-authorization-certain-h-4-dependent-spouses-h-1b-nonimmigrants-seeking-employment-based-lawful-permanent-residence">executive order</a> that year that allowed H-4 visa holders who were already in the process of applying for lawful permanent residency to also apply for employment authorization. Prior to the order, H-4 holders were unable to work or obtain a social security number.</p>
<p>The work authorization document is conditional, however. If the possessor’s spouse loses his H-1B visa, then the H-4 visa holder would also lose her authorization to work in the U.S. </p>
<p>I conducted a multi-year <a href="http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/BHAATH.html">study</a> of H-1B and H-4 visa holders that ended just after President Barack Obama’s 2015 order. My findings clearly showed the long-lasting negative effects of these work restrictions and how important work authorization is for immigrant families.</p>
<p>Even though spouses of H-1B workers tend to be <a href="https://qz.com/797831/the-h4-visa-and-the-desperation-of-indian-housewives-in-america/">highly educated</a>, often in STEM fields, after coming to the U.S. they effectively became housewives. Women are unable to contribute to the household financially and become dependent on their husbands. They cannot apply for changes in their immigration status without going through the primary visa holder. </p>
<p>This means that if an H-4 visa holder were to experience domestic violence, for example, she would be unable to leave without putting her visa status in <a href="https://law.ubalt.edu/centers/caf/pdf/Sabrina%20Balgamwalla.pdf">jeopardy</a>. </p>
<p>While Citizenship and Immigration Services did issue a <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/2016/2016-0308_PM-602-0130_Eligibility_for_Employment_Authorization_for_Battered_Spouses_of_Certain_Nonimmigrants.pdf">memorandum</a> in 2016 granting work authorization to abused spouses of nonimmigrants under the Violence Against Women Act, victims must have <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/forms/employment-authorization-certain-abused-nonimmigrant-spouses">proof</a> of abuse, such as police reports, court records or reports from social service agencies. As advocates have <a href="https://vawnet.org/sites/default/files/materials/files/2016-09/AR_Immigrant.pdf">shown</a>, this can be difficult for immigrant women to obtain, and many would rather <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/03/21/520841332/fear-of-deportation-spurs-4-women-to-drop-domestic-abuse-cases-in-denver">drop domestic violence</a> cases than risk deportation.</p>
<p>In cases where an H-1B worker loses his job or experiences something worse, the rest of the family could be deported. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199819/original/file-20171219-27538-1nfr2i5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199819/original/file-20171219-27538-1nfr2i5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199819/original/file-20171219-27538-1nfr2i5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199819/original/file-20171219-27538-1nfr2i5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199819/original/file-20171219-27538-1nfr2i5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199819/original/file-20171219-27538-1nfr2i5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199819/original/file-20171219-27538-1nfr2i5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sunayana Dumala was denied entry into the U.S. after attending the funeral in India of her husband, an H-1B worker who was murdered.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Orlin Wagner</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This point was driven home dramatically in the case of Sunayana Dumala, the widow of H-1B worker Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/adam-purinton-shooting-olathe-kansas/">murdered</a> in Kansas by a white supremacist in February. After she returned to India for Kuchibhotla’s funeral, she was barred from reentering the U.S. since her deceased husband’s visa was no longer valid. Dumala’s state congressman intervened personally to help obtain her temporary work authorization and to apply for her own H-1B visa or a “U” visa, usually reserved for immigrant victims of crime. </p>
<p>Her case, which had the rare aid of a member of Congress, brings home the precariousness that dependents of temporary immigrant workers face.</p>
<p>Even in less horrific cases, the forced hiatus from the workplace that women face on the H-4 hurts their long-term career prospects. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/magazine/the-opt-out-generation-wants-back-in.html?pagewanted=all">Research</a> has shown women who leave or are pushed out of the workforce wherever they are in the world have a much harder time reentering the job market.</p>
<p>This issue is compounded by the fact that H-4 holders must find an employer to sponsor them on an H-1B, which are already in short supply, or <a href="http://www.timesnownews.com/international/article/indian-it-professionals-us-green-cards-backlogs-h-1b-visas-techies-immigration/111499">wait</a> potentially seven to 10 years until they become permanent residents to restart their careers. </p>
<p>H-4 women face a triple burden if they are able to start working again, particularly in technology: race, gender and long gaps in their resumes. </p>
<h2>Welcome relief</h2>
<p>Considering the negative impacts of H-4 work restrictions, the Obama-era rule change granting work authorization was <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/eastside/high-tech-workers-spouses-welcome-new-immigration-rules/">welcome relief</a> for tens of thousands of dependent spouses. </p>
<p>For women who have been stymied at home, the chance to join the workforce is important both financially and <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/10/technology/h4-work-permits-trump/index.html">psychologically</a>, particularly in areas where H-1B workers are concentrated such as Silicon Valley, Seattle and New York. </p>
<p>For example, having two incomes offsets the high cost of living in regions where H-1B workers <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2015/04/02/the-h-1b-visa-race-continues-which-regions-received-the-most/">are concentrated</a>. In addition, <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdn/2013/sdn1310.pdf">women’s participation</a> in the workforce <a href="http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2015/the-case-for-gender-equality/">can translate</a> into greater gender equity at home.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there has already been backlash to this expansion of the temporary workforce, including via a <a href="http://www.immigration.com/sites/default/files/SaveJobs-Lawsuit.pdf">lawsuit</a> to halt H-4 work authorization. Although that suit was initially rejected, now the Trump administration’s planned rule change revives the issue. </p>
<h2>What now</h2>
<p>As my research has shown, when women are given opportunities to grow their careers and become economically productive, they are more likely to stay in the U.S.</p>
<p>Losing talented workers who have already invested significant time and money (workers pay social security and other taxes regardless of immigration status) in the U.S. will deal a blow to our standing as the locus of technological innovation. There has already been a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-17/h-1b-applications-drop-as-u-s-employers-anticipate-reforms">drop</a> in the numbers of H-1B applications received in 2017 as foreign workers grow wary of the current political climate in the U.S. This latest restriction will only create more hesitation.</p>
<p>The H-1B program is undoubtedly in need of reform. Obama’s 2015 executive actions on immigration were far from perfect and left many problems unresolved, such as what will happen to children of H-1B workers who “age out” of their dependent visas after they turn 21 years old. Many have spent the majority of their childhoods in the U.S. but still are not permanent residents. They are left in limbo and, like the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dreamers-and-green-card-lottery-winners-strengthen-the-us-economy-82571">Dreamers</a>,” potentially face the prospect of <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/returning-to-india/why-children-of-h-1b-workers-may-now-have-to-leave-america/articleshow/61166125.cms">returning</a> to countries that they have never known. </p>
<p>Withdrawing work authorization for spouses who have been living in the U.S. for more than half a decade is a step in the wrong direction. Immigration reform needs more compassion, not less.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89279/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Bhatt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar explains why the president’s plan to overturn his predecessor’s rule would be a big mistake and disproportionately harm women.Amy Bhatt, Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/554822016-03-01T11:20:58Z2016-03-01T11:20:58ZCandidates’ plans to change controversial H-1B guestworker program highlight need for an overhaul<p>Since its inception in 1990, the <a href="http://www.gao.gov/assets/320/314501.pdf">H-1B guestworker program</a> that allows employers to bring in high-skilled foreign workers on six-year visas has been steeped in controversy. </p>
<p>The program has been the subject of dozens of congressional hearings, including <a href="http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/the-impact-of-high-skilled-immigration-on-us-workers">one just last week</a> in which I <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/25/displaced-worker-it-experts-rake-h-1b-over-the-coals-before-congress/">participated</a>, <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/US-based-Fortune-500-company-accused-of-abusing-H-1B-visa/articleshow/50877436.cms">frequent op-eds</a> from pundits and technology <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160225006020/en/High-Skilled-Immigration-Essential-U.S.-Competitive-Edge-CTA">moguls</a>, <a href="http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2000-02-21/news/0002210331_1_foreign-workers-visa-holders-immigrants">exposés</a> and legislative changes. Critics accuse it of depressing wages and outsourcing American jobs, while advocates call it an essential source of the best and brightest talent.</p>
<p>But this year marks the first time it has risen up to the stage of a presidential campaign. The leading candidates in both parties have staked clear and competing positions about how to change the program, either <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2909983/it-outsourcing/heres-where-clinton-and-rubio-stand-on-the-h-1b-visa-issue.html">greatly expanding</a> it (Marco Rubio, Hillary Clinton) or tightening the eligibility criteria and requiring the recruitment of American workers first (<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2973597/it-outsourcing/why-trump-believes-his-h-1b-plan-is-serious.html">Donald Trump</a>, <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/3014365/it-careers/sen-ted-cruz-wants-minimum-h-1b-wage-of-110-000.html">Ted Cruz</a>, <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/3008726/it-careers/bernie-sanders-wants-to-raise-wages-of-h-1b-workers.html">Bernie Sanders</a>). </p>
<p>But what exactly is the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/h-1b-specialty-occupation/understanding-h-1b-requirements">H-1B visa</a> and how does it work? And how would different reforms and changes improve the program? </p>
<p>Since there is much mythology about the program, let’s take a step back and look at what it is intended to achieve to dispel the myths and the confusion. </p>
<p>I have been exploring issues surrounding high-skill immigration and offshoring for more than 15 years and believe a better understanding of the program will help us assess the candidates’ positions. And my view is that the program is being widely abused by companies and needs to be reformed to ensure it is meeting its intent while providing adequate protection to American and foreign workers alike. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113319/original/image-20160301-4110-ugyxfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113319/original/image-20160301-4110-ugyxfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113319/original/image-20160301-4110-ugyxfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113319/original/image-20160301-4110-ugyxfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113319/original/image-20160301-4110-ugyxfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113319/original/image-20160301-4110-ugyxfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113319/original/image-20160301-4110-ugyxfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">H-1Bs were meant for specialized workers but often are used for jobs that can easily be filled by Americans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Exasperated accountant via www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s so ‘special’ about it?</h2>
<p>The program has its <a href="http://www.gao.gov/assets/320/314501.pdf">roots</a> in the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act as a way to bring in foreign workers “to perform temporary service of an exceptional nature requiring such merit and ability.”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://migrationfiles.ucdavis.edu/uploads/wcpsew/files/crs_5=23=07pdf.pdf">1990 Immigration Act</a> formally created the H-1B visa and made two significant changes to the original program: 1) allowing “dual-intent” so that H-1B workers could pursue permanent residency and 2) setting an annual cap of 65,000 people.</p>
<p>The statutory cap <a href="http://www.gao.gov/assets/320/314501.pdf">has changed</a> multiple times over the years, rising as high as 195,000 at the peak of the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s and settling at 85,000 since 2005. In 2000, Congress made certain employers such as universities and research institutions exempt from the cap, meaning in reality about <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/Reports%20and%20Studies/H-1B/h-1B-characteristics-report-14.pdf">120,000 new H-1B</a> workers are approved each year.</p>
<p>The “dual intent” provision made the H-1B an important conduit for skilled workers to permanently immigrate, while the program’s intent remained to fill skills gaps in the labor market and provide a way to bring in workers in occupations for which Americans were hard to find. </p>
<h2>‘Best and brightest’</h2>
<p>The main problem with the H-1B currently is that it’s focused on “specialty occupations,” but there really isn’t anything special about most of the H-1B workers being hired. Rather than filling specialized skills gaps in the U.S. labor market, most H-1B workers have no more than ordinary skills, ones that are abundantly available from the available American talent pool. </p>
<p>While industry advocates such as <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88154016">Bill Gates</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mark-zuckerberg-immigrants-are-the-key-to-a-knowledge-economy/2013/04/10/aba05554-a20b-11e2-82bc-511538ae90a4_story.html">Mark Zuckerberg</a>, <a href="http://www.cfr.org/united-states/future-us-immigration-policy-next-steps/p35037">Michael Bloomberg</a> and the <a href="http://www.fwd.us">lobbying groups</a> they support argue that H-1Bs help the U.S. lure the “best and brightest” from abroad, the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/h-1b-specialty-occupation/understanding-h-1b-requirements">reality</a> is that the educational threshold for an H-1B is only a bachelor’s degree. And in fact, the majority of technology industry H-1Bs hold no more than that. </p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/XNvXO/2/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="500"></iframe>
<p>In practice, the program can – and is – used to fill <a href="https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/docs/py2015q4/H-1B_Disclosure_Data_FY15_Q4.xlsx">any occupation</a> that typically requires a simple undergraduate degree, such as journalism, accounting and marketing. </p>
<p>H-1B workers can be brought in even in occupations where there’s an abundance of American workers, such as the legal and sales professions. Employers <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/02-25-16%20Hira%20Testimony.pdf">need not show</a> that there are shortages of U.S. workers, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html">do not need</a> to seek local hires first and can even <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-20150222-column.html">replace Americans with H-1Bs</a>.</p>
<p>Further, the intent is that H-1Bs be paid market wages, but the reality is that the “prevailing wage” rules for H-1Bs are flimsy and it’s <a href="http://www.epi.org/people/ron-hira/">extraordinarily easy to pay an H-1B worker much less than an American worker</a>. </p>
<h2>Replacing American jobs</h2>
<p>Those advocating for reform of the program, like myself, have argued that it has mostly been used to replace, and substitute, Americans with cheaper labor, <a href="http://www.epi.org/people/ron-hira/">which as I’ve shown is extraordinarily easy and profitable</a>.</p>
<p>And that’s why, in a campaign season that has highlighted immigration and middle-class pain in the U.S., the H-1B has received such unusual prominence. </p>
<p>Should there be any doubt that employers have a self-interest in finding the cheapest workers available, one need only to look at the wage-fixing scandal in which the CEOs of the two most valuable and profitable firms in the world – Apple and Google – <a href="https://pando.com/2014/01/23/the-techtopus-how-silicon-valleys-most-celebrated-ceos-conspired-to-drive-down-100000-tech-engineers-wages/">conspired</a> to keep their workers from getting fair wages. </p>
<p>Last year, Southern California Edison, the state’s largest utility, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-20150222-column.html">replaced</a> 400 American IT professionals with H-1B workers from India and then required those getting fired to train their replacements. </p>
<p>Why did Edison do it? The reason was simple: the H-1B workers were cheaper. The <a href="http://www.epi.org/blog/new-data-infosys-tata-abuse-h-1b-program/">cost savings</a> were US$40,000 to $50,000 per worker, or 40 percent to 50 percent less than an American. The Department of Labor recently <a href="http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/10/22/55178/feds-conclude-investigation-into-firm-that-provide/">completed its investigation</a> of Edison and its contractors and found no violation of H-1B rules. In other words, the department affirmed that it is <em>legal</em> to pay H-1B workers substantially less than Americans and to even replace Americans with H-1Bs. </p>
<p>Edison’s case was not unique. Over the past year, <a href="http://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2016/02/24/congress-to-hear-testimony-from-disney-workers-fired-to-make-way-for-h-1b-visa-holders">Disney</a>, <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/business/columnists/mitchell-schnurman/20150516-schnurman-fossil-sells-out-its-tech-workers.ece">The Fossil Group</a>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/us/toys-r-us-brings-temporary-foreign-workers-to-us-to-move-jobs-overseas.html?_r=0">New York Life</a>, <a href="http://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-calls-on-chicago-based-abbott-labs-to-explain-180-layoffs-plan-to-outsource-jobs">Abbott Labs</a>, <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/brinkmann-on-business/os-disney-visa-probe-20150630-post.html">Catalina Marketing</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/us/toys-r-us-brings-temporary-foreign-workers-to-us-to-move-jobs-overseas.html?_r=0">Toys R Us</a> have all replaced – or are in the process of replacing – American workers with H-1Bs. The <a href="http://nieman.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/pod-assets/Image/microsites/immigration2013/resources/Hira%20TFSC%20Article%20Final.pdf">business model of using the H-1B program to facilitate permanent offshoring</a> is a <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/congressional-testimony-the-impact-of-high-skilled-immigration-on-u-s-workers/">well-known</a> and widespread practice. The <a href="http://www.epi.org/blog/top-10-h1b-guestworker-offshore-outsourcing/">top 10 H-1B employers</a> are all offshore outsourcing firms that use the program to facilitate shipping American jobs to low-cost countries such as India. </p>
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<p>If a company like Disney, which received great scrutiny in a series of front-page <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html"><em>New York Times</em> articles</a>, will exploit the H-1B program while under the spotlight, what company wouldn’t? </p>
<p>Another criticism of the H-1B program is that it upends the normal employer-employee power relationship. Since it’s intended as a nonimmigrant guestworker visa – most H-1Bs are not sponsored for permanent residence – it <a href="https://beta.cironline.org/investigations/techsploitation">invites abuse and exploitation</a>. These conditions – lower wages, offshoring of the jobs and an imbalance in the employer-employee relationship – lead to depressed wages and working conditions for all American workers in these fields. </p>
<h2>The candidates and the H-1B</h2>
<p>So where do the presidential candidates stand? </p>
<p>Republican frontrunner Trump is <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/immigration-reform">targeting</a> the wage issue directly, calling for an increase in the minimum salaries paid to H-1B workers in order to prevent the program from being used for cheaper labor. He would also require that employers recruit American workers before they could hire someone under an H-1B visa. </p>
<p>These are both steps in the right direction, though details remain lacking. It’s worth noting that Trump has been <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/431978/donald-trump-h-2b-guest-workers-mar-lago-club">attacked by his rivals</a> for hiring large numbers of H-2B unskilled seasonal guestworkers for his resorts. </p>
<p>Senator Rubio is an <a href="http://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/get-the-facts1">original</a> cosponsor of the so-called <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/153/">I-Squared Act</a>, which would <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/gop-debate-2015-marco-rubio-defends-h1b-visas-amid-criticism-questions-microsoft-2160512">more than triple</a> the number of H-1Bs issued. </p>
<p>When the topic arose in one of the first <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=110906">Republican debates</a>, he claimed the act would also help curb the program’s abuses by requiring employees to seek Americans first and higher wages for H-1Bs – which both <em><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/live/republican-debate-cnbc-boulder/fact-check-marco-rubio-bill-did-not-address-visa-issues-he-highlighted">The New York Times</a></em> and I have refuted. </p>
<p>Like Trump, Senator Cruz has expressed concern about the program. He has proposed an even bolder reform plan that involves a 180-day moratorium to investigate program abuse, lifting minimum wage and educational requirements and making it <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/11/ted-cruz-jeff-sessions-roll-out-antidote-to-broken-h-1b-program-american-jobs-first-act/">harder to use the program</a> if a company is laying off Americans. That’s a significant <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/cruz-admits-immigration-flip">reversal</a> from his earlier position on the H-1B. During the 2013 debate, he introduced a failed amendment to the immigration reform bill that would have <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-08-20/where-donald-trump-and-ted-cruz-completely-disagree-on-immigration">increased</a> the H-1B cap five-fold, with no additional protections. </p>
<p>On the Democratic side, the H-1B visa – like immigration generally – hasn’t been as hot a topic, though the two contenders are on opposite sides of the issue. </p>
<p>Former Secretary of State Clinton has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOW0cUaGWZU">long advocated increasing the H-1B visa cap</a>, yet has been silent about whether she would clean up any abuse. Senator Sanders, on the other hand, has advocated reform of the program and has <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/600/cosponsors">cosponsored bipartisan legislation</a> in prior Congresses crafted by long-time reform advocates Senators Charles Grassley and Dick Durbin. </p>
<p>These bills would raise minimum-wage levels, give American workers a first and legitimate shot at jobs before they are offered to H-1Bs, prevent a Disney-like replacement of American workers and institute random audits to ensure compliance (the current compliance system relies solely on whistle-blowers). </p>
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<h2>Where reform begins</h2>
<p>As someone who has researched this program for more than 15 years, and advocated for its reform, I’m glad to see that the issue is finally getting some recognition at the highest levels of politics. </p>
<p>To me and many others, the solutions are obvious, and variations of them are already available to lawmakers in <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2394">three</a> <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2365">recent</a> <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2266">bills</a> introduced in the Senate. The majority of H-1B workers are being hired because they are cheaper than Americans. We believe that the solution is to raise wages – and raise them substantially – and ensure that American workers have a first and legitimate opportunity for these jobs. </p>
<p>The H-1B program is an important program that serves as a bridge to permanent immigration for talented foreign workers. It should be used to recruit truly specialized workers from abroad when the labor conditions are tight and a qualified American can’t be found. But no American worker should ever be displaced by an H-1B worker – that was never the program’s intent – and this practice should be ended.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55482/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ron Hira receives funding from National Science Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Economic Policy Institute.
Ron Hira is a senior member of IEEE and is a past board member of IEEE-USA.
Ron Hira is a research associate with the Economic Policy Institute.
He has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress about high-skilled immigration policy.</span></em></p>The H-1B visa, created in 1990 to bring in specialized foreign workers, is in desperate need of reform. Where do the candidates stand?Ron Hira, Associate Professor of Political Science, Howard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.