How important is H-1B visa for America, what can Trump do? understand the whole thing

New Delhi: Amidst the controversy over H-1B visa in America, newly elected President Donald Trump has had to come in support of this visa program. It is believed that Trump has done this in view of the pro-visa stance of Tesla owner Elon Musk, who supported him/her during the elections. However, sloganeering against immigrants has been the pivot of Trump’s election campaign. In such a situation, the question is arising whether he/she will stick to his/her new stance?

What did Trump do last time?

In the 2016 presidential election, Trump had termed this visa program as ‘very bad for American workers’. After becoming President in 2017, he/she issued the ‘Buy American and Hire American’ executive order. Its purpose was to ensure that H-1B visas are issued only to high-paid and highly skilled foreign professionals, so that job opportunities for American workers are not affected.

In June 2020, Trump’s executive order banned the use of employment-based temporary visas. In October 2020, the Trump administration had directed companies to pay higher wages to H-1B visa holders. The idea behind this directive was that companies should not bring people from abroad to America at low salaries.

When and how many applications were rejected?

Indians got 72.1% of the total visas in FY 2017, but during Trump’s first term, the figure came down to 69.9% in FY 2019. In the year 2021, 23% of the applications from India were rejected. When Joe Biden became President, the share of visa allotment increased to 80.7% in fiscal year 2022. In 2023 it will be 77.7%. Overall, 24% of visa applications from all countries were rejected in FY 2018 and 21% in 2019. However, during the Biden era, the overall application rejection rate came down to 4% in fiscal year 2021 and then to 2.2% in 2022. 2.5% applications were rejected in FY 2024.

How important is it for America?

According to the American Immigration Council, if the limit of issuing 85 thousand visas every year is increased, then by the year 2045, about 13 lakh job opportunities will be created for the American people and this will increase America’s GDP by about 158 ​​billion dollars. At the same time, a study by the American Enterprise Institute found that every H-1B visa holder is helpful in creating an average of 1.83 jobs for Americans.

According to the council, in the financial year 2019, 78% of the companies employing H-1B visa holders were paying them more than the minimum wage set by the US government, hence there was no situation for them to work at much lower wages than the American people. .

What can Trump do?

According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in August 2024, Trump’s election campaign slogan of expelling illegal immigrants from the country in large numbers played a major role in his/her victory. 88% of his/her supporters considered it okay. At the same time, only 29% of his/her supporters were in favor of allowing immigrants from all over the world to come to America, so that a mixed and better workforce can be created. On one hand, there are staunch supporters of Trump, who is going to start his/her second term as President on January 20, 2025, and on the other hand, there are industrialists like Musk, who are supporting him/her more than money in the elections.

Career counselor Mohan Tiwari, who guides students going abroad, says that in his/her previous tenure, Trump had made it difficult to get H-1B visa by tightening the conditions of educational degree and jobs, but this time it will not be easy to do so. Trump will also see that America cannot take the risk of being left behind in technology amid China’s growing power.