H-1B visa replace: New restrictions proposed by undertaking 2025 group

[ad_1] A Donald Trump-backing suppose tank has urged Congress and the White Home to enact drastic reforms to H-1B visas.

The Heritage Basis, an influential conservative suppose tank whose agenda is carefully related to the Trump administration’s Venture 2025, has proposed sweeping modifications to the controversial program.

Why It Issues The push for stricter rules displays rising issues over the impression of expert overseas labor on American jobs and wages, particularly in know-how and analysis sectors.

These developments come because the Division of Labor (DOL) rolls out new enforcement in collaboration with the Division of Justice (DOJ) and different companions beneath “Venture Firewall,” aiming to safeguard employment alternatives for American employees.

Newsweek contacted the DOJ and the DOL through e mail for remark.

<img id="11115547" alt="" caption="Washington, DC, USA - September, 16, 2019: Letter (Envelope) from USCIS between two USA flags on American colors background." captionoverride="Letter from USCIS between two USA flags on American colors background" credit="" sourcealt="" sources="[]" fetchpriority="auto" loading="lazy" width="6016" height="4016" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" src="color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1536px, (min-width: 768px) 768px, 100vw" srcset="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-1297669351_64d6b2.jpg?w=640&quality=80&webp=1 640w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-1297669351_64d6b2.jpg?w=750&quality=80&webp=1 750w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-1297669351_64d6b2.jpg?w=1000&quality=80&webp=1 1000w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-1297669351_64d6b2.jpg?w=1200&quality=80&webp=1 1200w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-1297669351_64d6b2.jpg?w=1360&quality=80&webp=1 1360w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-1297669351_64d6b2.jpg?w=1600&quality=80&webp=1 1600w" bad-src="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-1297669351_64d6b2.jpg?w=1600&quality=80&webp=1"/> What To Know The Heritage Basis’s report, first revealed by the Each day Caller, requires eliminating exemptions for analysis and nonprofit organizations, changing the H-1B lottery with a wage-based rating system, and clarifying that H-4 visa holders—the spouses of H-1B recipients—shouldn't be permitted to work.

It additional recommends imposing strict annual caps on every firm's H-1B purposes and implementing everlasting bars in opposition to any “firm, particular person or entity from petitioning or collaborating” within the course of if present in violation of immigration regulation.

It proposes elevated transparency by mandating the DOL to publish month-to-month statistics on H-1B petitions, layoffs, complaints, and investigations, and requires strong enforcement actions involving the DOJ.

Trump has launched a controversial $100,000 payment for brand spanking new H-1B petitions filed on or after September 21, 2025.

This coverage, which changed the earlier vary of roughly $2,000–$5,000 per petition, applies to beneficiaries outdoors the U.S., with nationwide curiosity exemptions obtainable on a case-by-case foundation.

Critics on the Council on Overseas Relations (CFR) suppose tank warn that the payment may limit entry to extremely expert immigrants and place U.S. employers—particularly startups and smaller companies—at a aggressive drawback in comparison with bigger corporations.

On the identical time, the DOL’s Venture Firewall initiative has begun enhanced federal enforcement to forestall discrimination in opposition to American employees within the H-1B course of.

It coordinates with the Equal Employment Alternative Fee and different departments to make sure "certified People" are thought of for expert jobs earlier than employers flip to overseas employees.

What Folks Are Saying Simon Hankinson, Heritage Basis senior analysis fellow, mentioned: “It’s previous time for Congress to finish not solely the quite a few kinds of H-1B abuses, but additionally the executive state creations that developed the student-to-H-1B-green-card pipeline that adversely impacts American college students and workers.”

Defending the necessity for expert employees, Trump mentioned: “As an illustration, if you happen to’re going to be making chips — we don’t make chips an excessive amount of right here anymore, however we're going to be in a interval of a 12 months, we’re going to have an enormous portion of the chip market. However we have now to coach our folks how you can make chips.”

Trump supporter-turned-critic Republican Consultant Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has floated plans to finish H1-B visas, mentioned: “Massive Tech, AI giants, hospitals, and industries throughout the board have abused the H-1B system to chop out our personal folks.”

CFR commerce and immigration skilled Edward Alden mentioned: “There’s all the time been an inexpensive consensus that extremely expert immigration is nice for the USA.”

White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned: “President Trump doesn't help American employees being changed. He has a nuanced, commonsense strategy — after these factories are up and operating and employees are skilled, these corporations higher be hiring American employees.”

What Occurs Subsequent The Heritage Basis's suggestions—and the Trump administration’s present $100,000 H-1B petition payment—are more likely to enhance federal scrutiny over the usage of expert overseas labor.