Trump Is Weeks Away From Missing His Chance to Reform Work Visas

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Time is running short to reform the U.S. work visa programs.

President Donald Trump and Congress have said they want to overhaul policies that allow companies to bring employees from overseas to the U.S. But the application deadline for the most controversial visa program is the first week of April, which means new rules have to be in place for that batch of applicants or another year's worth of visas will be handed out under the existing guidelines. The current H-1B visa program has been criticized for hurting American workers and undercutting salaries.

H-1B visas were created about three decades ago to help companies bring in skilled workers from other countries when they couldn't find Americans to fill those jobs. But the program has morphed greatly from its original intent.

Americans are losing their jobs to foreign visa holders, who tend to be paid substantially less. Most of the visas don't even go to American companies, but rather overseas firms that use the program to build up operations in the U.S. India would have the most at stake in any reform.

“I think everyone agrees the system is broken,” says Neil Ruiz, an immigration expert at the Pew Research Center and former executive director of George Washington University’s Center for Law, Economics and Finance.