There is an administration executive order of Donald Trump for suspending the foreign worker visas for protecting the workers of America.
Due to the unprecedented employment caused by COVID-19 is meant a few categories of visas that the short-term travelers’ use who hunt for experiential travel programs will be off-the-cards in 2020.
L, H-2B, H-1B under halt
The issuing of L, H-2B, H-1B, and some J non-immigrant visas would be halted until 31st December this year. It said that the order is effective from 24th June 2020, 12.01 am EDT. Student M and F visas besides the post-study work path OPT won’t be affected.
Though it will provide some respite to the sector, the move will certainly hamper the US’s economic growth, according to the international education experts.
Effect on J-1
Some holders of J-1 visas who take part in camp counselor, au pair, summer work travel, intern, trainee programs, and teachers would be affected. However, this rule won’t affect those who are already residing in the United States on their present visas. This rule also excludes foreign nationals who are possessing visas already.
What’s the issue?
The proclamation viewed that there is a competition between American workers and foreign nationals for taking jobs in all the US economic sectors, and it comprises millions of aliens too who get to the US to do some kind of temporary jobs.
The proclamation also added that most often, the temporary workers’ spouses and children also come along, and many begin to have competition with the American workers. Though adequately-administered temporary worker programs could propose huge advantages to the economy, at times, under normal situations, some non-immigrant visa programs become an unnatural danger to the workers of America because of the outbreak of COVID-19.
The US job sector
This order is believed to an extension of the announcement, which was made in April that suspended the visiting of aliens in the form of immigrants for two months. While speaking on Fox News, President Donald Trump specified that an executive order could help protect the US’s jobs.
He added that the US has many people hunting for jobs, and this country has managed to set a record too previous month. US history proves that it did an excellent job compared to what it had done previously on jobs. According to Trump, the US is coming back to normal, and it is doing this very fast.
The assumptions
If the administration is to be believed, young Americans compete with some J non-immigrant visa applicants, and it highlighted that the rate of unemployment in May for the 16-19-year-olds was 29.9 percent while for the 20-24-year-olds, it happened to be 23.2 percent.
The Executive Dir. of the Alliance for International Exchange, Ilir Zherka, said that the organization does not support the programs’ presence, like J-1 Exchange Visitor in the proclamation. The international exchange programs are helpful to American families while allowing American host businesses to remain open all year-round.
However, they don’t relocate the workers of America but contribute above $1.2 billion to this country’s economy. These vital cultural exchange programs comprise bipartisan and sturdy support. Again, the Alliance will not stop working for protecting these critical programs, Zherka added.
He further said that they believe that it is pretty possible to re-open the economy keeping in mind health considerations whilst continuing people-to-people diplomacy.
Christine La Monica-Lunn, president and CEO at InterExchange, agreed that the J-1 programs don’t have a reason for being comprised in a proclamation that says about labor. Some programs, like a camp counselor, au pair, trainee, intern, and SWT, serve the interests of the US public diplomacy.
Effect in world
This proclamation will prevent youth from all across the world to get a chance to experience the values and culture of America. Unluckily, this does not aid Americans to get involved in work again, but it throws up another vital challenge for the employers and working families who are attempting hard to become normal, Monica-Lunn stated in The PIE News
Amy Morrow tweeted that those others who were in the sector started using a hashtag “#SaveJ1s” on Twitter. An unfortunate decision that will deprive individuals of professional training and cultural exchange will visit elsewhere, such as Australia or Canada.
Rebecca Bernhard, a partner at Dorsey and Whitney, believes that J-1 visas meant for medical researchers, physicians, or vague secondary school students will be exempt.
Bernhard also added that, besides extending those previous restrictions, this novice order would curtail the issuing of fresh work visas meant for the professional workers of H-1B, non-physician J-1 visas, H-2B non-agricultural workers, and also the L-1 intracompany transferees besides their dependent family members.
Other policies
This order makes a hint at more immigration restrictions that are yet to come though extra restrictions are least likely to be issued via executive order. More policy is supposed to be issued via the federal rulemaking method, and it can take up to many months.
President Donald Trump has cleared that he notices restricting immigration as a vital campaign matter. Hence, there is a chance that when the election draws closer, this country will notice more action on these matters, said Bernhard.
Mary Sue Coleman, president of the Assn. Of American Universities, the action would harm the US’s scientific and economic competitiveness while failing to accomplish any of the stated goals of the president in issuing it.
According to Coleman, as they share the administration’s concern regarding the COVID-19 confinement, this order won’t stern this disease’s spread. America is needed to ensure that it will continue to allure the best and the brightest innovators, researchers, and scientists for driving economic innovation, scientific discovery, and the growth of jobs that discovery brings along.
Future of Bright talents
The visa programs, like H-4 and H-1B that the executive order curtails have permitted hard-working and bright people to go to America for their commendable contribution to the scientific innovation and educational endeavors. So, it deprives America of talent threatens in place of safeguards.
The higher education expert and co-founder of Yocket, Sumeet Jain, said that this temporary order wouldn’t affect students as they handle “at all.”
This might bring in optimistic news for the students who hunt for a job after graduation. Students on OPT may become more demanded, and when no fresh H-1B candidates can go to America, it will open up more chances for students who would be altering their rank to OPT, Jain added.
There are ample tech jobs and that too, with a confined pool of talent. In this situation, supply would work for international students’ benefits.
According to the founder of the Turkish Help Center, Sema Alpaytac, there would be a knock-on impact on labor support meant for organizations.
Alpaytac told The PIE News that while living and doing a job in Miami, Fl, where Turkish Airlines gets daily flights from and to Istanbul until the pandemic hit, she has witnessed the evolution of Turkish investment in the previous seven years.
For example, some construction giants of Turkey, like ANT YAPI, get backed with knowhow and manforce from this country. This means many individuals survive on the J-1, L-1, and H-1B visas.
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Source- The Pie News.