Trump Limits Hiring of Highly Qualified Foreign Professionals

The U.S. President Donald Trump Monday signed an Executive Order that bans replacing U.S. citizens and Green Card holders with foreign employees.

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"We believe jobs must be offered to American workers first," a statement on the White House website said. "It would be unfair for federal employers to replace perfectly qualified Americans with workers from other countries."

Trump's decision followed an announcement made by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which decided to fire 20 percent of its tech employees and transfer their functions to companies abroad.

TVA’s action is likely to eliminate more than 200 American jobs in Tennessee and cost the “local economy tens of millions of dollars over the next 5 years,” the White House said.

The decree specifically targets the use of H-1B visas, which are intended for highly qualified professionals, especially in the technology, computer, engineering and science sectors.

Federal agencies to prioritize the hiring of citizens, native or naturalized, or foreigners with legal permanent residence, before entering into contracts that give employment to foreign workers.

Since June, the Federal government stopped processing H-1B visas, which has been widely criticized by companies such as Google, Tesla, or Twitter. Until now, the United States issued about 85,000 H-1B visas per year.