Trump suspends temporary work visas in the United States

On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to suspend certain temporary work visas from now until the end of 2020. This new law applies to H-1B, H-2B, H-4, L-1 visas and certain J-1 visas. According to the White House this order will help Americans reshape the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The presidential proclamation temporarily blocks foreign skilled employees, specialized workers, managers and seasonal workers from entering the country which business groups strongly oppose. The visa suspension will come into effect from Wednesday.

By signing this executive order President Donald Trump believes this will open up 520,000 jobs for American workers and help reshape the economy after the hit they took during the outbreak. An official in the White House did not explain how Trump's administration came up with this number, simply saying it would “get Americans back to work as quickly as possible.”

Many business groups were trying to stop the President from signing the proclamation. Sara Price, a policy analyst with the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute, estimated that the new ruling would block roughly 219,000 foreign workers through the remainder of 2020.

“This is introducing more chaos into an already chaotic situation for a lot of United States companies. The administration is making the assumption that these companies did not already look at the U.S. labor market, which most of them do before they get involved in a complicated process of trying to bring foreign workers,” she said.

At the same time President Donald Trump extended the proclamation he signed in April that blocks some foreigners from permanent residence in the United States. This measure was also extended until the end of the year.

Who is excluded from the President's proclamation

The proclamation exempts those who already live in the United States, as well as valid visa holders abroad, but they must have an official travel document that permits entry to the United States. Food supply chain workers and people whose entry is deemed in the national interest are exempt as well.

Medical workers are also exempted from the visa suspension issued by President Donald Trump on Monday but it narrows it down to people working on coronavirus research and care. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services said that there were 15,269 petitions for H-1B visas in healthcare-related jobs.