{"id":1295,"date":"2020-10-16T10:04:16","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T14:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/?p=1295"},"modified":"2020-10-19T09:55:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T13:55:38","slug":"urgent-action-needed-on-new-immigration-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/2020\/10\/16\/urgent-action-needed-on-new-immigration-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Urgent Action Needed on New Immigration Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>October 19 update: Thank you all for your interest. I received emails over the weekend from students, voicing concern and asking for further information about your own situation in light of the &#8220;duration of stay&#8221; proposed changes. First, this \u201cproposed rule\u201d is not in effect yet and it is unclear when and if it will be implemented. Legal action to stop this implementation is in process, and it is possible that the rule will be stopped. If it is implemented, it will certainly harm universities and affect international students. Second, your university will have an \u201cInternational office\u201d (or some title like that). I suggest you reach out to your own international office for guidance about your particular situation. If you cannot find yours on the university website, ask your Department Chair or Graduate Director.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;line-height: 107%\">There are new immigration regulations recently published by the Trump administration that will harm the mathematics community. Here are short overviews of each:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">The Department of Labor (DOL) has published an Interim Final Rule for High-Skilled Wages, with <strong>comments due November 9<\/strong>; this went into effect October 8 prior to considering and responding to public comments. This will affect H1-B visas, and <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;background-image: initial;background-position: initial;background-size: initial;background-attachment: initial\">make it more difficult for highly-skilled foreign workers with college degrees to acquire visas.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"> International math post-docs\u00a0often are employed with H1-B visas, and many international faculty members join their university with an H1-B visa.\u00a0Salaries will have to be raised significantly, and <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 12pt\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/10\/06\/us\/politics\/h1b-visas-foreign-workers-trump.html\">\u201c<span style=\"background-image: initial;background-position: initial;background-size: initial;background-attachment: initial\">Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of homeland security, said he expected the changes to cut by one-third the number of petitions filed annually for the coveted visas.<\/span>\u201d<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"> The new required minimum wages may not be tenable for institutions of higher education. The rule may also result in US employers being positioned to pay foreign-born professionals more than their similarly employed American colleagues.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\">On September 25, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making concerning the period of stay for foreign students and scholars in the F and J non-immigrant categories, with <strong>comments due October 26.<\/strong> \u00a0The rule will go into effect after the agency considers public comments. The new rule will eliminate the longstanding policy that allows students and scholars to remain in the US for \u201cduration of status.\u201d Under the proposed rule, \u201cF or J nonimmigrants would be admitted into the United States for a period &#8230; not to exceed four years.\u201d A typical mathematics PhD takes 5-6 years to complete. In addition, the duration of stay will be only two years for\u00a0those from countries with visa-overstay rates greater than 10% and those non-US citizens either born in or holding citizenship of a country on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.\u00a0Many of these countries are in Asia and Africa. The <span style=\"color: black\">American Immigration Council has posted a very nice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org\/advocacy\/summary-proposed-changes-student-and-exchange-visitor-admissions-process-dhs\">summary, which includes a list of these countries.<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"xmsolistparagraph\" style=\"margin: 0in;margin-bottom: .0001pt\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">What can you do? <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"xmsolistparagraph\" style=\"margin: 0in;margin-bottom: .0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"xmsolistparagraph\" style=\"text-indent: -.25in;margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .5in\"><!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">1.<span style=\"font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman'\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><!--[endif]--><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">Give official comments, either by yourself, or with a group of fellow students or faculty. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"xmsolistparagraph\" style=\"text-indent: -.25in;margin: 0in 0in .0001pt 1.0in\"><!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">a.<span style=\"font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman'\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><!--[endif]--><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">Feedback for DOL about the wage rule should be given here: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2020\/10\/08\/2020-22132\/strengthening-wage-protections-for-the-temporary-and-permanent-employment-of-certain-aliens-in-the\">https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2020\/10\/08\/2020-22132\/strengthening-wage-protections-for-the-temporary-and-permanent-employment-of-certain-aliens-in-the<\/a>. Over 1000 comments have already been submitted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"xmsolistparagraph\" style=\"text-indent: -.25in;margin: 0in 0in .0001pt 1.0in\"><!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">b.<span style=\"font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman'\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><!--[endif]--><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">Feedback for DHS about the \u201cduration of stay\u201d rule should be given here: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2020\/09\/25\/2020-20845\/establishing-a-fixed-time-period-of-admission-and-an-extension-of-stay-procedure-for-nonimmigrant\">https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2020\/09\/25\/2020-20845\/establishing-a-fixed-time-period-of-admission-and-an-extension-of-stay-procedure-for-nonimmigrant<\/a>. Over 21,000 comments have already been submitted. But, please, don\u2019t think this means yours is not needed! If you choose to do this, I found these <span style=\"color: black\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.presidentsalliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-10-07-Template-Comment-for-D_S-Rule.pdf\">eight pages of instructions, sample text and talking points<\/a><\/span> useful (a tad hard to navigate but, in the end, good language and advice); it was produced by the <span style=\"color: black\">President\u2019s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration and NAFSA. You might jump to \u201c<\/span>Guidance on Creating your Comment Letter\u201d which begins at bottom of page 2. The \u201cTalking Points might also prove useful; they appear pages 4-8.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"xmsolistparagraph\" style=\"text-indent: -.25in;margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .5in\"><!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">2.<span style=\"font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman'\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><!--[endif]--><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">Tweet or otherwise share about these rules in social media, in whatever ways you are active.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"xmsolistparagraph\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in .0001pt 1.0in\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"xmsolistparagraph\" style=\"text-indent: -.25in;margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .5in\"><!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">3.<span style=\"font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman'\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><!--[endif]--><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\"><a href=\"https:\/\/p2a.co\/AXj9Ptc\">Write to DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf, using this link<\/a>. This link was set up by the American Physical Society, and we are welcome to use it. <span style=\"color: black\">It allows you to customize and document how the rule will be harmful to science, the impact on you or someone you know, and how international students have been an asset to the US. Specifically, the<span class=\"apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/protect-us.mimecast.com\/s\/6ClrCPNKVvf27vNtrPm_C?domain=nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\">link<\/a>\u00a0provides a\u00a0prompt\u00a0to enter your information (name and email) and then just three questions about the\u00a0impacts of this rule and the importance of international students. Once you answer the questions, the software turns your answers into the body of your comment. You\u2019ll then see a complete message, your answers bookended with a stock intro and conclusion, which you can edit before sending. Please\u00a0note that this link is live, so only press send if you want to submit the comment.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"xmsolistparagraph\" style=\"margin: 0in;margin-bottom: .0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"xmsolistparagraph\" style=\"margin: 0in;margin-bottom: .0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt\">Thank you for you interest, and for taking action to support our international students and colleagues.<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; October 19 update: Thank you all for your interest. I received emails over the weekend from students, voicing concern and asking for further information about your own situation in light of the &#8220;duration of stay&#8221; proposed changes. First, this &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/2020\/10\/16\/urgent-action-needed-on-new-immigration-rules\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" data-url=https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/2020\/10\/16\/urgent-action-needed-on-new-immigration-rules\/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,40,5,36],"tags":[70,48],"class_list":["post-1295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-graduate-students","category-grassroots-leaders","category-immigration","tag-early-career-mathematicians","tag-immigration"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8sfLS-kT","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1295"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1305,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295\/revisions\/1305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}