In a move that will affect techies looking to work in the US, the United States Department of Labor has disqualified 15 companies from applying for the H-1B Visa Program.
The authority has released a list of 15 employers who cannot apply for H-1B visas effective from February 1, 2018. The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor said that some of the debarred companies are "willful violator employers".
The Department of Labor will conduct random investigations for a period of up to five years from the date when the company is decided as willful violator by the Wage and Hour Division, the website said.
Also read: Skill, job, and English: You need only three things to make it to US
Here's a look at 15 companies that have been disqualified from applying for H1-B visas by the US government.
The H-1B visa program allows companies to hire highly skilled foreign professionals to work in the US in areas that need technical expertise. Indian nationals are a major beneficiary of the H-1B program.
However, with Trump's "Buy American, Hire American" move, applying for H-1B visas has become a tough job for foreign workers and immigrants. The "America First" promise by the US President has also affected Indian techies who have dreams of living in America.
There were reports that the Trump administration was considering tightening H-1B visa rules. However, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on January 9, 2018, announced that the US government was not considering any proposal that would force H-1B visa holders to leave the country.
In the US Congress, a new policy is tabled to protect American workers from discrimination and replacement by foreign labor. The new policy seeks to put limits on the number of people who receive green cards to live and work in the US.
