Behind the Push to Reform U.S. Work Visa Programs: QuickTake Q&A

U.S. President Donald Trump and members of Congress from both parties have vowed to overhaul the visa programs used by corporations to bring overseas workers to the U.S. That’s left companies that rely on such workers and those that source them bracing for change. A first step came at the end of March, when the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services department issued guidelines making it harder for companies to bring foreign technology workers to the U.S. using the H-1B visa program. Next up, Trump will order a broader review of that program.

It allows companies to recruit 85,000 employees from abroad each year for specialty positions in fields including technology, science, medicine, architecture -- even fashion modeling. It took less than a week for applicants to exhaust that allotment in 2016, and technology companies including Facebook Inc., Google Inc., Intel Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. have sought to increase the number available. People from India receive more H-1Bs than any other nationality.