The U.S. government is putting a knife on immigration policy as a whole. The citizenship test will become more difficult, and the issuance standard of “H-1B”, a visa for foreign professional workers, will be reorganized around high wages.
“Currently, the citizenship test is too easy,” Edlow said in an interview. “The way you memorize the answers and guess them does not fit the purpose of the law.” He announced his intention to raise both the number of test questions and the acceptance criteria. Specifically, he plans to move away from the method in which 10 out of 100 questions are asked as it is now, and to return to a system in which more than 12 out of 20 questions are asked correct as in the first Trump term.
At the same time, Director Edlow said he plans to reorganize the H-1B visa system for professional foreigners.
“The H-1B visa should be operated in a way that complements, not replaces, the U.S. economy and jobs,” he stressed, adding that he is considering a screening system that gives priority to companies that hire foreign workers and pay higher wages. Currently, 85,000 H-1B visas are selected through a lottery every year, mainly targeting skilled workers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Visa holders can stay for the first three years and extend it for an additional three years. After that, they can also apply for permanent residency.
However, there is strong opposition to the system. Along with the claim that foreigners are eroding jobs in the U.S., some companies have been criticized for preferring cheaper foreigners to their own citizens.
Recently, the controversy heated up when Vice President JD Vance, a Republican, publicly criticized some companies that fired their own national employees to hire foreigners. The conservatives of “MAGA,” a key supporter of Trump’s camp, are also strongly opposed to easing regulations on H-1B visas.
Director Edlow clearly drew a line on the “restriction of permanent residency for welfare beneficiaries,” another hard-line measure that was implemented during Trump’s first term. At that time, the system operated in a way that restricted applications for permanent residency for immigrants with a history of public welfare benefits within a certain period of time, but it was abolished due to criticism that it was a racist factor.
“Immigration should definitely have a net positive effect, and we need to make sure that we manage people who are moving in a way that meets certain economic goals and is in the U.S. national interest,” Edlow said.
The USCIS reorganization plan seems to be a process of reorganizing the immigration policy direction within the Republican Party ahead of former President Trump’s re-challenge for the presidential election. The strengthening of the citizenship test is interpreted as a measure to limit the voter base, and the H-1B high-wage preferential policy is interpreted as a measure to strengthen the justification for protecting jobs for citizens. At the same time, it also heralds a precise screening of immigration policy as a whole.
SAM KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
