H-1B | Pakistan

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced increased vetting of applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, with an internal State Department memo saying that anyone involved in “censorship” of free speech be considered for rejection. H-1B visas, which allow US employers to hire foreign workers in speciality fields, are crucial for US tech companies which recruit heavily from countries including India and China. Many of those companies’ leaders threw their support behind Trump in the last presidential election. The cable, sent to all US missions on December 2, orders US consular officers to review resumes or LinkedIn profiles of H-1B applicants – and family members who would be travelling with them – to see if they have worked in areas that include activities such as misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others. “If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protec...

Chipmaker Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang said that the company will continue to sponsor H-1B visas and cover all associated costs following US President Donald Trump’s executive order last month that imposed a $100,000 fee on each new application, Business Insider reported on Tuesday. Huang’s reported message, aimed at reassuring employees, comes after panic and confusion had ensued among tech workers on H-1B visas, a large chunk of whom are from India and China. Akin to the wider chip and tech industry, Nvidia has a significant number of employees from overseas. Huang has repeatedly asserted that about half the AI researchers in the world are Chinese. “As one of many immigrants at Nvidia, I know that the opportunities we’ve found in America have profoundly shaped our lives,” Huang wrote in a message to staff, cited by Business Insider. “And the miracle of Nvidia — built by all of you, and by brilliant colleagues around the world — would not be possible without immigration,” Huang added, according to the report. N...

A coalition of unions, employers and religious groups filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking to block US President Donald Trump’s bid to impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly-skilled foreign workers. The lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco is the first to challenge a proclamation Trump issued two weeks ago announcing the fee as the Republican president moves to further restrict immigration to the United States. Plaintiffs include the United Auto Workers union, the American Association of University Professors, a nurse recruitment agency and several religious organisations. They argued that Trump’s power to restrict the entry of certain foreign nationals does not allow him to override the law that created the H-1B visa programme. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in a statement said Trump’s administration engaged in lawful actions “discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages, while providing certainty to employers who need to bring the best talent f...

The Trump administration released a proposal on Tuesday that would rework the H-1B visa selection process to favour higher-skilled and better-paid workers, according to a related Federal Register notice, a move that follows a White House proclamation on Friday introducing a $100,000 fee for the visas. The new process, if finalised, would give heavier weight to applications by employers who pay high wages if annual requests for the visas exceed the statutory limit of 85,000, the notice said. The move aims to better protect Americans from unfair wage competition from foreign workers, it said. President Donald Trump launched a wide-ranging immigration crackdown after taking office in January, including a push for mass deportations and trying to block citizenship for children of immigrants in the United States illegally. In recent days, his administration intensified its focus on the H-1B programme, popular with tech and outsourcing companies for hiring skilled foreign workers. The Trump administration said on Fr...

US President Donald Trump on Friday ordered an annual $100,000 fee be added to H-1B skilled worker visas, creating potentially major repercussions for the tech industry where such permits are prolific. The new measure, which could likely face legal challenges, was announced alongside the introduction of a $1 million “gold card“ residency programme that Trump had previewed months earlier. “The main thing is, we’re going to have great people coming in, and they’re going to be paying,” Trump told reporters as he signed the orders in the Oval Office. Later, the White House issued a major clarification to the new visa policy, saying the $100,000 fee will be a “one-time” payment imposed on new applicants. “This is a one-time fee that applies only to the petition. It only applies to new visas, not renewals or current visa holders,” a White House official said on condition of anonymity. H-1B visas allow companies to sponsor foreign workers with specialised skills — such as scientists, engineers, and computer programm...