Big tech companies in the US have pushed back against a dramatic jump in the blocking of H-1B visa applications, accusing the immigration agency of acting outside of its own regulations.
Flagged by Compete America, a pressure group of companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, IBM, Walmart, Accenture and Deloitte, its November 1 letter said the Trump administration’s crackdown was wreaking havoc on the employers. The H1B visa allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.
The letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Francis Cissna says the agency appears to have changed the yardstick on three counts without announcing or explaining them.
Also, the changes are not part of the regulations governing a H-1B specialty occupation that have been in effect since 1991, the letter said. The goalpost changes include offering an entry-level job at a corresponding wage level cannot be treated as a speciality occupation.