Modest praise for US H-1B visa reforms

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration’s new rules for a US visa programme widely used for technology workers including from India are getting cautious praise from Silicon Valley amid surging demand for high-skill employees.

The H-1B visa programme, which admits some 85,000 foreign nationals each year, will give higher priority to people with postgraduate degrees from US universities, under a final rule published in January by the department of homeland security. The changes come with the tech industry pleading for more immigrants to fill key skilled positions, and responds in part of concerns that the program has been exploited by some tech giants and outsourcing firms to depress wages and displace US employees.

“The changes are, on the whole, a positive step in the right direction,” said Todd Schulte of the immigration reform group FWD.US backed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and others in the industry. AFP