New immigration restrictions went into effect with the new year, meaning that travelers from seven countries— Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria—are facing more difficulties in coming to the United States.
President Trump last year signed executive orders limiting travel from those countries, citing safety and security concerns, although advocated for immigrants contend that the restrictions unfairly target Muslim and African nations.
Various types of restrictions had already been in place for more than a dozen other countries: Afghanistan, Burma/Myanmar; Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Venezuela, and Yemen.
The administration also made changes to the H-1B visa program, allowing for prioritizing of applicants who make higher wages. These changes also went into effect on January 1.
“The existing random selection process of H-1B registrations was exploited and abused by U.S. employers who were primarily seeking to import foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers," said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Matthew Tragesser. “The new weighted selection will better serve Congress’ intent for the H-1B program and strengthen America’s competitiveness by incentivizing American employers to petition for higher-paid, higher-skilled foreign workers.”
Tragesser said the administration will continue to update the H-1B program.
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