Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has proposed stiffer norms for H-1B work visas and Green Cards on the ground that American workers are dogged by high unemployment and low incomes.
The real-estate tycoon says the prevailing wage for H-1B jobs should be increased in order “force companies to give these entry-level jobs to the existing domestic pool unemployed native and immigranta workers in the US, instead of flying in cheaper workers”.
“More than half of H-1B visas are issued for the programme’s lowest allowable wage level, and more than eighty per cent for its bottom two,” Trump asserted, arguing that his proposal would improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley.
Trump’s paper also moots a slowdown in the grant of Green Cards for permanent residence, saying that before new cards are issued to foreign workers, there should be a pause during which employers would have to hire from the domestic pool of unemployed. Significantly, Trump also wants to end “birthright citizenship” for the children of immigrants living in the US illegally.