The H-1B visa program

Hundreds of American or US-based companies greatly benefit from foreign workforce through different programs offered by the local immigration system.

Business immigration is quite important to the economic growth and development of local companies, which hire highly skilled foreign workers, farmers, or inexperienced workers when there are not enough trained or available American personnel.

For instance, one of the options most used by local companies, especially those related to the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is the H-1B visa, which allows them to hire highly qualified foreign workers in these sectors.

Therefore, local businesses and companies constantly comment on the importance of allowing and expanding business immigration to attract talent, innovation and professionalism from abroad. They state that technological and scientific development relies heavily on business immigration, which allows highly skilled foreigners to come to the US.

Do you need help with a Business Immigration Case? Our team can help you, whether you need help for your company or if you are a foreign worker.

The Trump administration’s battle against business immigration

Despite the opinion of local companies regarding business immigration, the Trump administration has always wanted to reduce the number of foreign workers entering the country, arguing that American workers miss out on opportunities because companies tend to pay lower wages to foreign workers.

Adding to that, the global Coronavirus pandemic allowed the Trump administration to increase restrictions on the H-1B visa program and narrow the definition of “Specialty Occupation,” which is basically the list of professions eligible for the H-1B visa.

However, even before the health crisis, the Trump government had already tried to reduce business immigration. For instance, in 2017, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which is the entity in charge of receiving and responding to immigration requests nationwide, stated that Computer Programmers would not be eligible for the H-1B visa since that profession did not fall within the definition of “Specialty Occupation.”

Court of Appeals states that computer programmers are now eligible for H-1B visas

For the benefit of information technology (IT) companies, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently removed the USCIS restriction on foreign computer programmers and stated that they are eligible to apply for H-1B visas.

The Court of Appeals stated that the 2017 USCIS decision was “capricious and arbitrary,” and blocked the development and international competitiveness of American companies, which specialize in information technology services.

This is truly positive news for local businesses and qualified foreign workers, who long for an opportunity to come to the US, gain work experience, and do their best to contribute to the socioeconomic development of the country.

Need to keep up to date with immigration news, policies and measures? Our Blog section is what you are looking for.

Other than business immigration, do you need help with any other immigration case?

If you have any questions about an immigration issue or relating to a case you may have currently in progress, then please don’t hesitate to contact us for a FREE Phone Consultation with one of our expert immigration attorneys.

Simply call Motion Law today at: (202) 918-1799.