US tightens H-1B scrutiny: Employers with layoffs face closer checks

The Trump administration has ordered tighter scrutiny of H-1B visa applications where sponsoring employer companies have recently laid off, or plan to lay off, similarly situated US workers. The move could bring greater scrutiny to companies that the administration alleges have cut American jobs while continuing to hire foreign workers.An executive order signed by President Donald Trump on September 18 directs the Departments of State, Labor and Homeland Security to consider whether a sponsoring employer “directly or indirectly” laid off employees within the previous year or plans future layoffs that “negatively affect the employment of similarly situated” American workers when adjudicating an H-1B labour condition application (LCA), petition, visa application or application for admission to the US.The proclamation states: “Many employers have laid off large numbers of highly skilled American workers, only to promptly hire large numbers of H-1B workers who are often lower-skilled and lower-paid.