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https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-considers-suspending-h-1b-other-visas-through-the-fall-11591915950?mod=e2tw

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is weighing a proposal to suspend a slate of employment-based immigration visas, including the coveted H-1B high-skilled visa, according to administration officials familiar with the talks, among several possible measures amid the economic fallout of the pandemic.

The proposed suspension could extend into the government’s new fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1, when many new visas are typically issued, these officials said. That could bar any new H-1B holder outside the country from coming to work until the suspension is lifted, though visa holders already in the country are unlikely to be affected.

The suspension proposal is one of a series of legal immigration limits that President Trump is considering as part of an executive action he is set to unveil in the coming weeks. The administration has argued that the pandemic requires limits on immigration to prevent sick people from entering the country and to ensure that Americans get jobs first as the economy rebounds.

Administration officials said the president hasn’t yet signed off on the plan, adding that it could change as senior aides continue to discuss the matter.

“The administration is currently evaluating a wide range of options, formulated by career experts, to protect American workers and job seekers, especially disadvantaged and underserved citizens—but no decisions of any kind have been made,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement.

In addition to the H-1B visa, the suspension could apply to the H-2B visa for short-term seasonal workers, the J-1 visa for short-term workers including camp counselors and au pairs and the L-1 visa for internal company transfers.

The administration plans to exempt some industries from the restrictions, such as health-care workers directly involved in treating Covid-19 patients and others critical to the food supply chain. The administration is also considering a broader carve-out allowing employers to hire immigrants if they can prove they can’t hire Americans for a given job.

Lawmakers and businesses—including tech companies and seasonal employers—along with colleges and universities, are calling on the administration to abandon the plan and have been circulating details of the proposals online. They say that barring immigrants who fill unique skill sets or take jobs most Americans won’t perform would hamper economic growth rather than bolster it.

In a May 27 letter addressed to Mr. Trump, nine Republican senators, including Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) and John Cornyn (R., Texas) urged him to reconsider broad new restrictions on temporary work-visa programs, which the senators said would ultimately hurt U.S. businesses.

“American businesses that rely on help from these visa programs should not be forced to close without serious consideration,” they wrote. “Guest workers are needed to boost American business, not take American jobs.”

A recent poll from the Pew Research Center found that 64% of adults said legal immigrants mostly fill jobs U.S. citizens don’t want.

Senior officials at the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and the Labor Department have been working for several months on the recommendations, which they plan to bring to the president for final signoff as soon as this week, the people familiar with the talks said.

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Other changes under discussion would take longer to implement as formal regulations, but if adopted, would become permanent, they said.

The administration is considering scaling back the Optional Practical Training program that allows international students to work on their student visas. The proposal would repeal an Obama-era extension allowing students with science or engineering degrees to work for three years, rather than the one year permitted all other students, and limit work permits only to those graduating at the top of their class.

It is also considering ending an Obama-era rule allowing spouses of H-1B workers to work on their visas. That could eliminate approximately 100,000 immigrants from the workforce over time.

In addition, the administration is mulling a proposal to charge $20,000 to apply for H-1B visas, either by increasing the application fee or adding it as surcharge, the people familiar with the talks said. The H-1B application fee is currently $460, though some companies pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more in additional fees.

Last November, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that processes visa petitions, proposed nearly doubling the cost of a citizenship application among other fees to address its budget shortfall. The agency has since said the pandemic has worsened its financial problems, prompting the agency to shut offices and pause most routine immigration services for two and a half months.

Officials said that increasing H-1B visa costs could help USCIS, the agency that processes visa petitions, plug a hole in its budget. The agency, which is funded through fees it collects on immigration applications, is asking Congress for a $1.2 billion bailout.

The package is likely to include several other long-sought changes to the H-1B program, including narrowing the definition of qualifying specialty occupations and placing more requirements on companies hiring these workers as contractors. The administration may also shorten the length of H-1B visas for workers paid at the lowest pay tier and require pay increases for them upon renewal.

Another proposal could eliminate work permits for asylum seekers—a move the government has already formally proposed—along with refugees and other immigrants who aren’t required by law to receive them.

In April, the president signed a proclamation temporarily barring some family-based immigration to the country, two days after teasing a full ban in response to the pandemic’s economic toll. In a concession to hard-line immigration groups, the order asked for recommendations on additional ways to curb employment-based immigration within 50 days—a period ending Friday.

Some members of groups favoring immigration restrictions said that while the proposals echo policies they have long urged Mr. Trump to adopt, they worried he would side with businesses who oppose them.

“From how long this is taking, it’s clear they’re more worried about big business interests than unemployed American workers,” said RJ Hauman, government relations director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that advocates for lower levels of immigration. “So at this point we’ll believe it when we see it.”

Write to Michelle Hackman at Michelle.Hackman@wsj.com and Andrew Restuccia at Andrew.Restuccia@wsj.com

those graduating at the top of their class면 학과 1등을 말하는 건지 아니면 학과 상위권 학생들을 말하는건지 애매하네요. 저의 한국적인 기준으로는 과 1등 말하는거 같은데, 제가 졸업한 박사 졸업장이나 transcript에는 rank가 나와있지 않고 오로지 GPA만 나와있거든요. 박사생은 숨마쿰 라우데를 따지지는 않지만, 학부졸업 기준으로는 GPA 몇 이상이어야지 숨마쿰 라우데이다 라는게 있잖아요. 과연 상위권을 졸업생을 말하는 걸까요?

OPT 는 어차피 학교에서 신청하는거니까 학교에서 신청하는 학생의 성적을 보고 신청 자격여부를 미리 판단하게 한다 이런 의미로 보이네요…

말도 안되는 부분이라 봅니다. 대학별로 수준차이도 심각한데 일괄 1등 혹은 상위권학생 몇몇만 OPT를준다?
솔직히 스탠포드 하버드 꼴등 학생이 최하위권 대학 상위 10%보다 못하다는 보장이 없는데;
차라리 명시적인 GPA 커트라인을 두는건 몰라도 상식적으로 형평성이 안 맞아서 불가능함

지지층 결집을 위해선 뭔가 하긴 해야겠고 이런저런 카드 다 갖다대보는…그런 느낌이네요.

당연히 탑 몇프로 겠죠. 우리가 탑스쿨 이라할때 한 학교만 지칭하는게 아니잖아요.

저런식으로 접근한다면 1등보단 상위 몇프로 이런식으로 자를 가능성이 높을거 같아요

H1B 획득에 필요한 금액을 $20,000 까지 올리는건 황당하지만 가장 확실하게 ‘아무나 되라’ 하고 신청하는 인도계 IT 회사들의 접근을 막는 방법이 되겠네요…