Thread: Trump Plans 'Potential Pathway to Citizenship' for Foreign H-1B Workers John Binder

This isn’t the first time that President Trump has announced H1B news. The President made other changes back in 2017 that made it more difficult for some workers to come to the U.S. via the H1B program.

Yes, Trump made it very difficult because the employers can't cheat any more which reduced the number of companies using H1B's. He also has increased the vetting for those coming in resulting in a reduction of the number of people coming in on H1B visas. This next change will make the H1B of even less value to employers. H1B is driven by employer applications, not workers. You'll see when the new regulation comes out.

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H1-B holders in the United States can rest assured that changes are soon coming which will bring both simplicity and certainty to your stay, including a potential path to citizenship. We want to encourage talented and highly skilled people to pursue career options in the U.S.

4:40 AM - 11 Jan 2019

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How to get US citizenship with H1B visa? How long does it take - Quora
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-get-U...long-does-it-t...
Aug 5, 2017 - If you have an H-1B visa, your first priority should be to get your greencard (i.e. permanent ... that leads to permanent residence, which then leads to citizenship.


How do I get US citizenship with H1B visa? How long does it take?





Tal Reichert, immigrant
Answered Mar 17, 2014 · Author has 868 answers and 2.7m answer views


You don't. You can only apply for a greencard through H-1B.
Five years after that, you can become a citizen.

If you have an H-1B visa, your first priority should be to get your greencard (i.e. permanent residency). Unfortunately, you cannot apply for that yourself, you need to be sponsored by your employer on a three-phase process:
1. Your employer needs to get a labor certificate from the Department of Labor through a process called PERM. This is to show that the US economy is indeed in need of people of your skills, that your skills are in demand and suitable candidates are hard to come by.
2. Your employer needs to apply to make your temporary position a permanent one, and the USCIS needs to approve of that. That is done via form I-140.
3. You need to change your status from a non-immigrant to an immigrant, that is done through adjustment of status using form I-485.

There are different priority levels for the application, these dictate the availability of visas and the requirements from the applicant. These are marked EB-1 through EB-5 - Look at the USCIS page on Permanent Workers or consult with an immigration lawyer (you'll need one anyway, literally no one files for employment-based greencard without a lawyer).

That lengthy process does not exclude the other alternatives for receiving a greencard, e.g. the diversity lottery or family-based greencard (most commonly through marriage to a US citizen).

Once you earned your greencard one way or another, you are a permanent resident of the United States.

Now you wait.

After five years of continuously living in the US as a permanent resident, at least half of which you were physically present in the US, you can apply to be naturalized as a US citizen.

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https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-get-U...g-does-it-take

"certainty" = bad for employers

The current uncertainty in the move from an H1B visa to a green card allows employers to exploit these workers while discriminating against American Workers for years and years and years, even decades.

As soon as the H1B worker gets their green card, they're free from the limbo that employers exploit which depresses wages.

Also when the H1B worker moves to the green card, the employers not only no longer have exploitation wages of the workers which hurts American Workers, they no longer have the tax incentives which is unfair to taxpayers and American Workers who have to pay taxes. These H1B workers are also exempt from overtime. No one ever talks about that.

Trump is going to try to expedite and simplify the move from the H1B visa to a green card, something they are already entitled to under current US law, but which in practice, drags out for 10 to 12 years or more because they wait in line. When he makes it easier and quicker to move to a green card, this hurts the employer and discourages use of the program.

So far, there are not enough votes in Congress to eliminate the H1B program so what Trump is doing is trying to make it as hard, difficult, costly, cumbersome and unattractive to employers as possible through new regulations so they stop using it. When employers stop using it, it's over, because it's the employers who actually make the applications for H1B workers.

Originally Posted by Judy

No, they are already eligible for green cards.

Ok---so why were you using that as excuse for this debacle that is taking place now, in this screed?

More foreign labor won't be the result of what Trump is doing, it will be less. John Binder got it wrong. He read a tweet but didn't understand what it said.

H1B's already have a pathway to citizenship. They are all eligible for a green card. The green card is the pathway to citizenship. Under the present system according to our Rule of Law, they are eligible for green cards, so they apply for them and wait in line like everyone else, in the meantime, under the Rule of Law, they can renew their H1B a year at a time while they wait for a determination on their green card application which can take years. While they are in this limbo, employers take advantage of them to undercut American Workers and enjoy a tax advantage. When the H1B gets their green card, they are no longer taken advantage of by their employers because they have certainty in their position, demand higher wages or leave and go work for someone else. As a result they no longer undercut American Workers. Unless companies can save by hiring H1B's for long periods of time, there is no advantage to the employer to hire these foreign workers, so they'll hire Americans which reduces H1B's being used and increases good jobs for Americans at higher wages.

Originally Posted by Judy

"certainty" = bad for employers

The current uncertainty in the move from an H1B visa to a green card allows employers to exploit these workers while discriminating against American Workers for years and years and years, even decades.

As soon as the H1B worker gets their green card, they're free from the limbo that employers exploit which depresses wages.

Also when the H1B worker moves to the green card, the employers not only no longer have exploitation wages of the workers which hurts American Workers, they no longer have the tax incentives which is unfair to taxpayers and American Workers who have to pay taxes. These H1B workers are also exempt from overtime. No one ever talks about that.

Trump is going to try to expedite and simplify the move from the H1B visa to a green card, something they are already entitled to under current US law, but which in practice, drags out for 10 to 12 years or more because they wait in line. When he makes it easier and quicker to move to a green card, this hurts the employer and discourages use of the program.

So far, there are not enough votes in Congress to eliminate the H1B program so what Trump is doing is trying to make it as hard, difficult, costly, cumbersome and unattractive to employers as possible through new regulations so they stop using it. When employers stop using it, it's over, because it's the employers who actually make the applications for H1B workers.

I forgot to mention the other advantage of what Trump is doing. The more quickly H1B workers already here for years, self-sustaining, middle income or above income earners move to green card status, the more green cards that are used up with people who are already here supporting themselves without welfare, and the less overall new immigration especially uneducated poverty ridden welfare sucking chain migration associated with the green card program, so he's cutting legal immigration in two ways, reducing green card migration as well as reducing use of the H1B program. This was all in his campaign documents, it was in the DACA deal which failed, so this is simply moving the ball forward through regulatory changes instead of by act of Congress which Congress isn't able to do, because Republicans don't have enough seats to get the votes to pass a bill to fix anything with our immigration system.

Originally Posted by stoptheinvaders

Ok---so why were you using that as excuse for this debacle that is taking place now, in this screed?

More foreign labor won't be the result of what Trump is doing, it will be less. John Binder got it wrong. He read a tweet but didn't understand what it said.

H1B's already have a pathway to citizenship. They are all eligible for a green card. The green card is the pathway to citizenship. Under the present system according to our Rule of Law, they are eligible for green cards, so they apply for them and wait in line like everyone else, in the meantime, under the Rule of Law, they can renew their H1B a year at a time while they wait for a determination on their green card application which can take years. While they are in this limbo, employers take advantage of them to undercut American Workers and enjoy a tax advantage. When the H1B gets their green card, they are no longer taken advantage of by their employers because they have certainty in their position, demand higher wages or leave and go work for someone else. As a result they no longer undercut American Workers. Unless companies can save by hiring H1B's for long periods of time, there is no advantage to the employer to hire these foreign workers, so they'll hire Americans which reduces H1B's being used and increases good jobs for Americans at higher wages.

Because Trump's changes will remove the wait, the uncertainty, the exploitation, and the length of time employers can benefit from the H1B program which diminishes their interest in using it to begin with.

JohnDoe2 wrote (excerpt):

Trump's actual words without the spin.

Yep, well, someone we both know is spinning it like a top now!

Trump is doing this to help corporations and businesses. Any attempt to spin the facts to suggest otherwise is disingenuous. He has sold out on his campaign promise.

Rule of Law = Green Card Holder = American Worker

American Worker = No Foreign Worker Advantage for Corporations or Businesses

Trump H1B Changes = Helping American Workers, Not Corporations or Businesses

The End.

Originally Posted by Judy

Rule of Law = Green Card Holder = American Worker

American Worker = No Foreign Worker Advantage for Corporations or Businesses

Trump H1B Changes = Helping American Workers, Not Corporations or Businesses

The End.

You're attempting to make an argument using a false premise.

"An old cowboy goes into a bar and orders a drink. As he sits there sipping his whiskey, a young lady sits down next to him. ... She says, 'I'm a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about women. ...' A little while later, a couple sits down next to the old cowboy and asks him, 'Are you a real cowboy?' He replies, 'I always thought I was, but I just found out I'm a lesbian.'"

H-1B workers didn't start out as green card holders, they started out as employment based foreign labor. Making it easier for a foreign labor immigrant to acquire green cards and future citizenship helps the foreign labor worker and the corporations/businesses. Making it easier for what was once a employment based foreign worker under H-1B stay here permanently aids businesses by supplying more labor that can shift employment throughout the business industry.

Furthermore, once a H-1B visa worker acquires a green card his spouse and any children under 21 years of age is also eligible to apply and as a green card holder they too can gain employment.