Joseph Edlow, director of US civil and immigration services, said this week that President Donald Trump’s administration is considering the test changes to become a US citizen.
It was previously reported that the administration plans to change the visa system for qualified foreign workers by getting rid of the H1-B lottery system.
US citizenship test: What is expected?
Joseph Edlow, director of USCIS, said on Thursday New York Times that the administration wants to change the naturalization test required by potential US citizens.
From now on, immigrants have been studying 100 civic questions and then they must respond correctly to six out of 10 questions to pass this part of the test.
During the first Trump Administration, the agency increased the number of questions and demanded that applicants respond correctly to 12 out of 20 questions.
Edlow said that the agency was planning to return to the version of this test soon, NYT reported.
But why does Edlow want to change the citizenship test?
In an interview with The New York Times, Joseph Edlow said that a test that would become a US citizen was too easy and should change.
“The test, as set right now, is not too difficult,” Edlow said on Thursday, adding. “It’s very easy to remember the answers. I don’t think we really complied with the spirit of the law.”
Edlow’s proposed changes would have to be approved through the process of creating the rules of the Federal Government.
H-1B Visa Program: What is changing?
Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly planning to reworking the H1-B Visa Lottery System, which aims to replace it with a weighted and international selection process.
The aim of the proposed changes is to certain candidates on the basis of other criteria-unusually, including wages-in the benefit of highly qualified and paid professionals.
Currently, the system is quite simple. Applicants who are entitled to H1-B Visa present their requests and the computer lottery randomly selects the recipient.
Every year, about 85,000 H-1B visas, 20,000 are reserved for individuals who have a master’s degree or higher from the University of the University.
On January 8, 2021, the Ministry of Internal Security published the final rule for adjusting their process for selecting H-1B petitions when registration exceeds the annual limit of 85,000.
So what changes do the government propose? According to Forbes, in the final rule in 2021, DHS described a new selection process as:
“USCIS will stand and select petitions received based on the highest level of employment level, which is equal to the wage or exceeds the standard standard classification of jobs in the field of intended employment, starting from wage levels and progressing in the descending order of wages II, II, I.” a. ”
The Institute for Progress At the beginning of this year found, as Hindustan Times states that if higher salaries were given by a priority instead of using a random lottery, the average salary of H-1B visa could increase from approximately $ 106,000 to $ 172,000.
This would probably make it difficult for outsourcing companies that rely on hiring a large number of lower -wage workers, but for researchers, PhD holders and higher -level techniques could be a big plus.
Criticism
Doug Rand, a former biden administration official, said that the change of H1-B process was misleading.
“Whether you like it or not, the H-1B program is the main way that American companies can hire the best and brightest international graduates of American universities and Congress never allowed DHS to put their thumb on a scale on the basis,” he said.
Regarding the plan of changing the H-1B visa program for foreign workers, it was the subject of the debate within the Republican Party. Edlow said he should prefer companies that plan to pay higher wage workers.
The proposed changes in the system could alleviate criticism from those who are on the right wing of the Republican Party, claiming that the program attracts workers willing to accept lower salaries than American workers.
This week, US Vice President JD has criticized companies that release their employees and then hire foreign workers.
However, some of Trump’s most important supporters in the Technology Industry said they rely on the H-1B visa program because they could not find enough qualified American workers.
Edlow was quoted by Nyt as he said, “I really think the way in which H-1B needs to be used, and this is one of my favorite phrases, is, along with many other parts of immigration, supplement, not replacement, American economies and American businesses and American workers.”
(Tagstotranslate) American citizenship
