Anticipated changes to immigration regulations could have significant impact in the employment context. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in its fall 2018 regulatory agenda (Fall Regulatory Agenda), announced plans to implement new rules to make the H-1B and H-4 visa programs consistent with President Trump’s Buy American Hire American Executive Order, signed on April 18, 2017, which seeks to create higher employment rates for U.S. workers and ensure H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid beneficiaries. Subsequently, on Dec. 3, 2018, DHS and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a proposed regulation expected to prioritize H-1B applications for workers with advanced degrees from American universities. Moreover, on Nov. 19, 2018, the Department of Labor (DOL) began requiring employers to use a new H-1B labor condition application in order to promote greater transparency regarding the employment of foreign temporary workers.
In addition to these regulatory changes, President Trump recently reached an agreement with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts to remain in a North American Trade alliance and replace NAFTA with the newly named United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). It remains subject to ratification by the legislative bodies of all three countries. If ratified, USMCA is not likely to have an impact on labor mobility across the three countries but will require certain protections for workers.
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