MANJUNATH KIRAN/AFP/Getty ImagesFortune 500 companies are rushing a federal agency to extend work permits for thousands of H-1B visa workers as President Donald Trump and his deputies argue over visa curbs that would help Americans regain jobs lost in the coronavirus crash.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebookasked and got“continuing approval” extensions for 611 of its H-1B visa-workers from the staff at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services agency.
Each visa extension allows a foreign H-1B worker to stay another three years.
Tim Cook’s Apple got 647 extensions, Bill Gates’ Microsoft snagged 903 extensions, and Jeff Bezos’ Amazon got 1,245 extensions from the agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
Just 62 of these 3,497 requests for foreign workers were denied by USCIS, according to data displayed by the agency’s ‘H-1B Employer Data Hub.’
The denial rate of just 1.8 percent closed off 3,435 jobs needed by the growing number of unemployed American professionals.
The USCIS data only shows visa extensions and denials from October to May. Many more extensions will likely be sought before the fiscal year ends in September. The site also shows company requests for new visas, but it does not show how many new visas will be awarded to each company.
Each year, the 435 members of the House, the 100 members of the Senate, and the President allow companies, universities, and hospitals to import roughly 100,000 H-1B workers.
The H-1Bs are not immigrants, but the resident population of H-1Bs is huge because they are allowed to extend their visas, often indefinitely.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/05/14/trumps-deputies-extend-visas-for-1000s-of-foreign-workers/
