Trump administration signals sweeping overhaul of H-1B visa program amid fraud crackdown
Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito warned that the H-1B visa system could look dramatically different within a year as the administration expands a fraud investigation.
Anthony D’Esposito, the Labor Department’s Inspector General, told reporters that the foreign-labor visa program will be substantially altered in the next 365 days as the Trump administration widens its probe into H-1B fraud and worker exploitation. The probe is not limited to paperwork errors; investigators are building a broader case that includes alleged fake employers and visa-mill operations. So far, the OIG has issued dozens of subpoenas, executed search warrants, and suspended applications from IT firms Cognizant and Cloudera pending criminal inquiries.
A recent executive order orders the Labor, Homeland Security and State departments to assess whether H-1B employers have laid off comparable U.S. workers and to re-examine prior labor condition applications. The administration has also extended a rule that forces certain foreign petitions to include a $100,000 payment, a measure it says has cut H-1B registrations by 92 percent among major outsourcing firms.
Why it matters
Changes to the H-1B program could affect millions of foreign tech workers and U.S. companies that rely on them.
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