Most people agree that the Trump administration was openly disdainful towards immigration in general, but they may not know just how important foreign-born workers are to the U.S. job market. Those same foreign-born workers and immigrants that former president Trump claims caused harm to the U.S. job market are, in actuality, critical to the development of U.S. STEM industries with 19% of all STEM workers and over 40% of all scientists and engineers with doctorate degrees in the U.S. being foreign-born immigrants in 2021.
Mr. Trump must not be aware that the 1969 moon landing we are so proud of as a nation was only possible due to German scientists, and their knowledge of rocket technology, who immigrated to the U.S. after WWII. The Biden administration has been working to undo the harm that Trump has wreaked upon our nations STEM industries by announcing new immigration guidance to attract foreign-born talent which they believe, and have made clear in recent statements, is one of the U.S.’s greatest strengths.
The Biden administration wants to signal to employers and high-skilled potential employees, that USCIS believes the O-1A visa category is being underutilized and more than those that currently apply may be eligible. The O-1A category is especially valuable for employers and immigrants alike as it has no annual limit, unlike the more common H-1B work visa. Any individual that has an extraordinary talent in the sciences, education, business, or athletics should keep an O-1A visa in mind, especially after the Biden administration’s favorable guidance on O-1A immigration. The new guidance also gave updated examples of the types of evidence that could satisfy statutory criteria in the modern internet age. This is incredibly important as much of the previous criteria, and examples of their required evidence, predated the digital age we currently live in.
The Biden administration also issued new guidance pertaining to national interest waivers in the employment-based green card category. A national interest waiver is used as a way to skip the lengthy permanent labor certification program which is expensive and can take a year or more to process. The U.S. wants to employ the best and brightest the world has to offer; to do so, we offer a national interest waiver as a way of streamlining the process of getting a green card for those who are exceptionally talented and whose entrance is in the U.S.’s best interest. Thanks to the Biden administration’s new guidance, national interest waiver applications have almost doubled from 2022 to 2023 while boasting an acceptance rate of 80%. To qualify for a national interest waiver USCIS considers 3 factors when deciding whether to grant a waiver based on the Matter of Dhanasar ruling:
- The proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance.
- The person trying to get the waiver is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor.
- That waiving the permanent labor certification process would be beneficial to the United States.
In sum, the number of highly skilled workers immigrating to the U.S. with O-1A visas is projected to steadily increase in the future with national interest waivers following suit. However, the future is anybody’s guess, and only time will tell whether we have a return to former president Trumps isolationist and anti-immigration policies, or if presidential candidate Kamala Harris will bring about a continuation of the Biden administration’s pro-immigration policies.