In an effort to reduce work for the already busy immigration officials, President Trump has decided to delay a program designed to encourage foreign entrepreneurs to settle in the United States. The program was originally created to encourage foreign entrepreneurs to enter the U.S. legally with a work permit. As a result of this order, the foreign entrepreneurial program is to be delayed until March of 2018, at which point the Trump administration will likely cancel the rule altogether.
Originally, the program was projected, under President Obama, to result in the eligibility of nearly 3,000 foreign entrepreneurs for parole each year. Only 10 percent of the companies with at least $250,000 in capital would have qualified for this program, and each must have been able to create a minimum of 5 jobs for renewal.
Encouraging foreign entrepreneurs to settle in the U.S. would have potentially brought new skills, inventions, and jobs into the United States. Many immigrant-rights groups have argued that this move by President Trump seems short-sighted. President Trump, however, doesn’t think so.
The program was one of the executive actions by President Obama, a use of discretionary authority, and was to take effect in July 2017. President Trump asked the Homeland Security Department to pull back where he felt President Obama was too generous. Additionally, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which grants legal immigration benefits, including work permits and visas, is allegedly too busy to take on more work.
Due to the nature of the entrepreneur program, it would require the help of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to approve work permits and, potentially, grant citizenship. The department stated that they are currently overwhelmed with their normal job tasks and are unable to hire or train new workers fit to work on the entrepreneur parole program.
For more on this story, visit The Washington Times online.
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