The Biden administration has announced a major expansion of its guest worker programs, paving the way for more and more discounted foreign workers to take American jobs.
In a January 21 “Fact Sheet“, the White House announced a four-fold initiative to “attract STEM talent and strengthen our economy and competitiveness.” This initiative consists of four moves:
- Expanding the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. Increases from one year to three how long foreign students may secure work permits following graduation. Adds 22 more fields to the list that OPT already covered, including Bioenergy, Forestry, Human-Centered Technology Design, Anthrozoology, Climate Science, and so on.
- Expanding the J-1 visa program, used by employers for hiring low-wage laboratory personnel, researchers, and teachers instead of Americans.
- Lowering the standards for the O-1A program, which is supposed to allow visas for foreign workers of “extraordinary ability,” but which is now described as merely holding a bachelor’s degree plus five years of work experience.
- Making it easier for otherwise unwanted foreign workers to apply for a “National Interest Waiver (NIW),” a way for an individual to obtain a visa in the absence of a job offer. The NIW applicant must persuade U.S. authorities that it would in some way benefit the U.S. to allow him in, although no employer has offered him a job.
Overall, the new initiative, in the words of Rob Law of CIS, is “a punch to the gut” for American graduates. He continued:
The government has decided that it is in the interest of their donors to get their own unlimited supply of foreign workers outside of the normal [immigration] channels. So, congratulations. If you got a STEM degree [science, technology, engineering, math], you aren’t likely to get a job in STEM, and you’re probably not getting any job that will allow you to pay off your student loans.
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