Merit System

I agree with Long Kieu's article Blog Stage #7: Trump's New Immigration Policy about President Trump’s visa policy. In my previous blog post “Trump vs. Foreign Students,” I discussed the consequences of the “Buy American, Hire American” executive order that would be brought upon aspiring students outside of the United States. I expressed my disapproval on the order that would select only skilled immigrants with high salaries to give visas to.

Similarly, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is essentially a merit-based point system in which the applicants with the highest points are granted a visa in the United States. With this act, applicants are awarded points according to their age, education, occupation, work experience, and language skills; they must have at least 30 points in order to even apply.

According to the American Immigration Council, “Priority is given to prime working ages. Someone aged 18 through 21 gets six points, ages 22 through 25 gets eight points and ages 26 through 30 get 10 points. The points then decrease, with someone aged 31 through 35 getting eight points, 36 through 40 getting six points, ages 41 through 45 getting four points and ages 46 through 50 getting two points.” This is age discrimination; people who are young or old are not “fit” for the society. America is not a perfect society, nor are we trying to make everyone perfect. Certainly, people are not “better” just because they are in their prime age. There are many people who are in their late 20s and early 30s who are unemployed and unmotivated.

Additionally, this system sounds similar to the college admissions process in America. Applicants who have more on their resume, more to show to the admissions office have a higher probability of getting into their desired college. I believe that granting visas to immigrants should not become a competition, as it certainly will if people will be crushing each other to earn as many points as possible. We take pride in a nation that welcomes immigrants and is the Land of Opportunity. How can we claim that we are such a nation if we discriminate people from opportunities based on their merits?

Trump vs. Foreign Students

Under Trump, the reputation of America as being the land of opportunity for college students, both domestic and international, is slowly dying. As of now, America remains as one of the top destinations for international students in the world, with over 1 million students. American universities have amazing research opportunities and hold prestige throughout the world, making the country an attractive place to get an education, even if it means making financial and personal sacrifices.

When making the decision to come to the United States for college, international students have to take into consideration the necessity of obtaining a work visa after graduation in order to stay in America. In previous years, the H-1B visa program gave college graduates an opportunity to gain a work visa by a lottery of around 200,000 applicants. However, Trump’s recently signed “Buy American, Hire American” executive order has the potential to change the current system. While Trump’s order doesn’t literally change the H-1B program, it orders Departments of Labor, Justice, Homeland Security and State to propose revisions to the current visa system-one popular suggestion is to select only skilled immigrants with high salaries of about $100,000. This means that overseas college graduates may only be considered for one of the 85,000 work visas if they are able to get a salary of over $100,000.

In addition, Trump’s anti-immigration stance has also influenced a current Department of Homeland Security proposal. The proposal would necessitate annual applications for overseas students for permission to live in America. Right now, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program under the Department of Homeland Security enables college officials to endorse overseas students. Under the new proposal, the one-time fee of $200 and one submission of paperwork would turn into $800 (assuming the student has an average 4-year university experience) and constant resubmission of paperwork. Foreign students already face more financial fees and paperwork than domestic students, so this proposal makes studying in America more tedious and costly than before.

Trump’s distrust of immigrants has led to government policies and proposals that make America a less-appealing nation to get a college degree for international students. It’s a shame that with one President, many American dreams of studying in the U.S. are being tossed aside.