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Dive brief:
- Starting December 15, the US State Department will conduct an “online presence review” of H-1B visa applicants and their dependents. As part of this policy, all individuals who are reviewed must set their social media account settings to “public”.
- The objective, for the announcement of the department Wednesday, is to verify which visa applicants are “inadmissible to the United States, including those who pose a threat to US national security or public safety.”
- One law firm noted that this new policy “marks a significant change in consular control for employment-based visa categories.”
Diving knowledge:
This State Department policy update comes after President Donald Trump signed the Presidential Proclamation “Restricting the Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers,” which requires employers to pay $100,000 to file most H-1B visa petitions. on September 21.
The US Department of Homeland Security also returned H-1B visa selection criteria based on salary that same month, and under the chairmanship of Andrea Lucas, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released a technical assistance document in November anti-American bias at work. The guide called job listings with phrases like “H-1B preferred” or “H-1B only.”
These moves align with this administration’s priority of American workers, as seen on Department of Labor page celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States. “American Workers First is not just a slogan,” the DOL said. “It is our promise to deliver results for the working people of our great nation.”
Aside from fitting the White House’s vision for the workforce, the State Department’s new H-1B policy appears to be an extension of the administration’s overall immigration policy. In August, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its guidance to take into account “anti-American sentiments online in their immigration decisions.
Together, both immigration-related policies usher in a new era of social media screening. “The executive branch is really increasing the use of its discretionary authority under national security considerations across agencies,” Henry Lindpere, senior attorney at Manifest Law, he said in a statement Thursday
The HR takeaway, according to lawyers, is that recruiters and hiring managers will need to sift through visa applicants’ social media pages with a fine-toothed comb.
“For employers who sponsor H-1B visas or businesses that support visa applicants, the expanded verification means more responsibility to advise applicants about their digital footprint,” law firm Wildes & Weinberg. he wrote in a blog post reacting to the news.
Now, because of the department’s policy, the review of public content “becomes part of compliance awareness,” the law firm said.
