New York/Washington, 28 Aug

The Trump administration in the US is planning to change the H1B programme, the most sought after non-immigrant visa among Indian IT professionals, and also bring changes to the Green Card process, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has said.

“I'm involved in changing the H1B programme. We're going to change that programme, because that's terrible,” Lutnick said in an interview to Fox News on Tuesday.

He added that the Trump administration is also going to change the Green Card process that provides permanent residency in the US.

“You know, we give green cards. The average American makes USD 75,000 a year, and the average green card recipient USD 66,000, so we're taking the bottom quartile, like, why are we doing that? That's why Donald Trump is going to change it. That's the Gold Card that's coming. And we're going to start picking the best people to come into this country. It's time for that to change,” he said.

Indians are the main beneficiaries of the H-1B visas, which bring in the best of the talent and brains from across the world.

Highly skilled professionals from India walk away with the overwhelming number of H-1B visas – which is Congressional mandated 65,0000 every year and another 20,000 for those who received higher education from the US.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Lutnick said, “The current H1B visa system is a scam that lets foreign workers fill American job opportunities. Hiring American workers should be the priority of all great American businesses. Now is the time to hire American.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in an interview to Fox News that the H1B has become a "total scam”.

“These companies game the system. You have some of these companies that are laying off large numbers of Americans while they're also getting new H1Bs and renewing H1Bs,” he said.

DeSantis said that people used to say that America is getting the "cream of the crop” from all around the world through the H1B visa system.

“The reality is that's not actually what H1B are. Most of them are from one country, India. There's a cottage industry about how all that people make money off this system.”

He said that in the current job market, young Americans are having a much tougher time because of what's happening with AI. “So if that's going to continue to produce dislocations, why would we be importing foreign workers when we have our own people that we need to take care of,” he said.

DeSantis added that the visas limit the H1B worker to one company.

"It's almost like a form of indenture servitude. And so we've seen them take advantage of that time and time again," he said.

"And I just think like the overall message from the time President Trump first ran for office was we're going to put the American people first and I think that he's done that in so many ways like the border, and other things and I think it should apply to these visa programmes as well,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is proposing to limit the duration of visas for foreign students and media personnel in the US. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a press release on Wednesday said that if finalised, the proposed rule would limit the length of time certain visa holders — including foreign students — are allowed to stay in the United States.

Since 1978, foreign students (F visa holders) have been admitted into the US for an unspecified period known as “duration of status”.

Unlike other visas issued, those with a “duration of status” designation are allowed to remain in the US for an indefinite amount of time without further screening and vetting, the DHS said.

The Trump administration said that foreign students have taken advantage of the “US generosity” and have become “forever” students, perpetually enrolled in higher education courses to remain in the country.

“For too long, past administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to remain in the US virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing untold amounts of taxpayer dollars, and disadvantaging US citizens,” a DHS spokesperson said.

“This new proposed rule would end that abuse once and for all by limiting the amount of time certain visa holders are allowed to remain in the US,” the spokesperson added.

For foreign media personnel, who can work in the US on an I visa that is issued for five years and can be extended for multiple durations, the rule would set the initial admission period at up to 240 days.

Foreign media representatives would be eligible for an extension period of up to 240 days, but no longer than the length of the temporary activity or assignment.

Under President Trump’s proposed rule, the federal government would set the authorised admission and extension periods for foreign students and exchange visitors up to the duration of the programme they are participating in, not to exceed a four-year period.

Additionally, admitting foreign students, exchange, and foreign media classifications for a fixed period of time would require said aliens to apply for authorisation to extend their stay with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, therefore requiring regular assessments by the DHS for the alien to remain in the US for a longer period.

This was first proposed under President Trump in 2020 but was withdrawn by the Biden Administration in 2021.