Trump freezes green cards and many work visas until 2021

Donald Trump, campaigning for his reelection on November 3, decided on a new round of migration on Monday with the freezing of green cards and certain work visas until 2021, especially in new technologies, in the name of the fight against unemployment.

Faced with the brutal destruction of millions of jobs due to the containment measures linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Republican president had decided two months ago to suspend for 60 days the issuance of "green cards" offering status permanent resident in the United States, without affecting temporary work visas.

Until December 31

A new decree signed Monday will extend this "break" until December 31 and this time will include several types of work visas, including the H-1B widely used in the high technology sector and granted each year to 85,000 people, announced a senior manager.

Also concerned are most of the J visas used for student researchers, the L inter-company transfer visas used for certain expatriate contracts, the H-2B granted each year to some 66,000 low-skilled workers (with an exception for industry food) and H-4s which allow the wives of other visa holders to work.

According to the official, this "pause" should prevent the arrival of at least 525,000 foreigners and reserve their jobs for Americans: "the president's priority is to get the Americans back to work".

"This will eliminate competition for Americans in entry-level positions"

Sundar Pichai, the boss of Google, whose group is one of the major beneficiaries of H-1B visas, said he was "disappointed" with this announcement. "Immigration has immensely contributed to America's economic success to make it a world leader in technology," he tweeted. The decree comes while Donald Trump is struggling with two big tech, Twitter and Snapchat, who have hidden or reported messages from the president, who signed a decree in May to limit the legal protection of social networks.

For his part, the senior official argued that the decree responded to the sharp rise in unemployment (13.3% of the working population in May against 3.5% in February) linked to the pandemic. He stressed that the freezing of H-1B visas was temporary and that the administration was going to prepare a reform so that in 2021 they would be allocated to the most qualified foreigners and no longer by lottery. "It will eliminate competition for Americans in entry-level positions and help us attract the best, the most talented," he said.

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The official added that the government will adopt new regulations which will make it more difficult for tens of thousands of asylum seekers to obtain legal employment pending a court decision. With delays often of two years, the administration observed that many asked for asylum to obtain work permits.