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How the Trump presidency could affect your visa

Donald Trump’s historic election victory is expected to lead to a crackdown on illegal immigration and could see attempts by his administration to restrict legal immigration when he returns to the White House.

The President-elect has said he would push for “a merit-based immigration system that protects American labour and promotes American values”.

In his first term, he took steps to tighten access to some visa programmes, including a suspension of many work visas during the Covid pandemic, with Britons among those who could be impacted.

What visas could be affected?

One of the most popular US work visas is the H-1B visa for specialist workers, which operates as a lottery system as the number of applicants is greater than the number of places available.

The H1-B is a non-immigrant visa which allows US-based companies to employ highly-educated foreign professionals to work in “specialty occupations”.

These professions include science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and IT.

The current annual cap is 65,000, with 20,000 additional visas for foreign professionals who graduate with a master’s degree or doctorate from a US institution of higher learning.

The initial duration of an H-1B is three years, which can be extended for up to six years, with around three-quarters of the visas issued every year going to Indian-born workers.

Figures from the US embassy in the UK, supplied by the law firm Davies Legal, showed 1,434 Britons received an H-1B visa this fiscal year, while 2,454 did so in 2023, meaning any tightening of rules could impact workers from Britain

Almost 16,000 Britons have also moved to the US since last year on an L-1 visa – which allows foreign companies to temporarily transfer employees to their companies’ branches in the US – while almost 6,000 arrived on an E visa.

H1-B visa holders can also apply for a green card to gain permanent residency in the US.

Trump has branded H-1B visas ‘very bad’

Trump has previously described the H-1B visa as “very bad” and “unfair” to US workers, with his imminent return to the White House signalling a possible overhaul of the system.

The “Project 2025” handbook, developed by a right-wing think-tank preparing for Trump’s potential transition to power, says H-1Bs should be transformed “into an elite mechanism exclusively to bring in the ‘best and brightest’ at the highest wages while simultaneously ensuring that US workers are not being disadvantaged by the programme.”

In June 2020, during the Covid pandemic, Trump announced he would block the entry of foreign workers on H-1B visas for skilled workers and L-1 visas for workers being transferred within a company.

He said he would also block seasonal workers on H-2B visas, with an exception for workers in the food service industry.

Under Trump, a larger percentage of H-1B petitions were denied than in the preceding four years in the US.

But with a growing number of these denials being overturned, the rates decreased substantially during the latter half of the fiscal year of 2020, according to the American Immigration Council.

Buy American, hire American’

At the start of his first term in the White House in 2017,  Trump’s administration tried to make it more difficult for skilled foreign nationals to work in the United States.

After taking office, he issued his “Buy American and Hire American” executive order, which directed Cabinet members to suggest reforms to ensure that H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers.

The move fell short of Trump’s campaign pledge to end the H-1B visa programme, but experts believe Trump’s re-election could see the policy return.

Kaitlin Davies, an immigration attorney for Davies Legal, told i: “We fear the return of Buy American, Hire American (BAHA), a policy introduced during Trump’s first term that acted as a basis to deny qualifying visa applicants.

“Under the policy, if an immigration officer felt the employment could be filled by a US citizen, they would rely on BAHA despite visa applicants meeting legislative requirements.”

She said they had also been aware of “arbitrary decision-making” during Trump’s first term for British firms expanding into the US using E-2 Treaty Investor visas to transfer employees.

Fears over salary requirements

Ms Davies said: “There was talk during the first Trump presidency that H-1B Specialty Occupation visas would be subject to new arbitrary salary requirements.

“Currently, the required remuneration is based on the prevailing wage rates established by statistical data. We fear the introduction of salary requirements that would exclude otherwise qualifying applicants.”

She added that in recent months they had witnessed “unusual processing” at the US Embassy in London, where previously routine matters were being delayed by additional processing steps.

“For example, where a decision would previously have been provided on the day of visa interview, matters are being sent off for an additional layer of processing,” she said.

“This may well be unrelated to the election. We hope it isn’t a sign of things to come.”

British nationals already living in the US and seeking visa renewals, or changing visa categories could also be subject to additional or new requirements, she believes.

But Canadians and Mexicans could face a “tougher ride” than Britons if Trump targeted the non-immigrant NAFTA Professional (TN) visa scheme, which is similar to the H-1B, Ms Davies added.

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