Washington, Jan 22 (IANS) President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was on “both sides” of the H-1B argument but what he really wants to do is expand the categories of people coming to the US under the programme to include maitre d’, wine experts and high-quality waiters.
A debate is raging among Republicans, including in the Trump administration, on the H-1B visa programme under which US employers are allowed to hire foreign workers in speciality occupations for three to six to make up for the shortage of locally available talents. Some conservatives argue the programme has been abused to replace American workers with low-wage alternatives from abroad.
“I like both sides of the argument, but I also like very competent people coming into our country, even if that involves them training and helping other people that may not have the qualifications they do,” Trump said at a news briefing on his first full day in office.
“But I don’t want to stop. And I’m not just talking about engineers,” he continued.
“I’m talking about people at all levels. … Maitre D’s, wine, you know, experts, even waiters, high-quality waiters. You got to get the best people now.”
Most H-1Bs come to the US for engineering positions and turning to Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle; Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI, and Masayoshi Son, the Japanese billionaire, who were there for the launch of an AI in health, Trump said, “Then you go to people like Larry, and he needs engineers, and Masa needs and this gentleman Altman needs engineers like nobody’s ever needed.”
“By doing that,” Trump said about bringing people to the US on H-1B, “we’re expanding businesses, and that takes care of everybody. So I’m sort of on both sides of the argument, but what I really do feel is that we have to let really competent people, great people come into our country.”
The US issues 85,000 visas under the H-1B non-immigrant short-term work visa — from abroad and among the foreign students enrolled in US colleges and universities. And most of these visas have gone to Indians.
–IANS
yrj/khz
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by TodayIndia.news and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of TodayIndia.news We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, TodayIndia.news takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
