What is the H1-B One Workforce Training Program?

Everyone knows how Donald Trump has an issue with foreign workers, mentioning how the H1B program is giving jobs to foreigners while not enough American workers are employed. Well, it has been announced recently that $150 million is available for training the current U.S. workers, and will be given to investing in middle-to-high-skilled H1B occupations. This is about training the current workforce and boosting their skills, while training a new working generation for the future. With that in mind, what exactly is the H1B One Workforce Training Program?

What Is the H1-B One Workforce Training Program?

The H1-B One Workforce Training Program is meant to upskill the current workforce of the United States. Not long ago, the U.S. Department of Labor invested $150 million in it. The program is for U.S. retirees and job seekers. The entire goal of this program is to train Americans and thus prepare them to work for high-skill jobs. In the end, this would mean there’s less need for foreign high-skilled workers.

The program will cover multiple industries, such as cybersecurity, information technology, transportation, and advanced manufacturing.

Why Was the H1-B One Workforce Training Program Created?

The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on the U.S. and a lot of people were left without jobs. Not to mention that the economy took an immense blow due to the virus. As a result of the disruptions in the labor market, the U.S. took a good look at the way it delivers not only jobs but also training.

One of the reasons for creating this program is that there isn’t enough talent in the U.S. to fulfill the needs of the tech industry. The industry needs more skilled people, and there just aren’t any. As such, a look has been taken at Indian tech companies like Infosys, Qualcomm, and Cognizant. The Office of Foreign Labor Certification collected data and it looks like the three Indian companies we mentioned were the ones submitting the biggest number of visa applications in the first three quarters of this year. Of course, many other Indian companies also submitted a huge number of applications for H1-B visas.

Doland Trump has been complaining for a long time about how H1B workers are stealing the jobs of Americans, and he’s been trying to find ways to stop that. There just aren’t enough American workers to fill in all the roles of the H1B workers. That’s why the administration came up with this program and so the U.S. Department of Labor made $150 million available to fund the H1-B One Workforce Training Program.

Considering there aren’t enough skilled workers to fill in the roles and foreigners with these skills are coming to the U.S., the program is meant to change things. Multiple Americans who start training under this program will learn useful skills in various factories, and will thus be able to work in the same jobs as H1-B workers are. In the end, there will be less need of approving so many foreigners to take the jobs.

John Pallasch, the Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, said that “The US Department of Labor is challenging communities to think as ‘One Workforce.” He then continued saying, “In the current job environment, local organisations must work as one, instead of independent parts of a process. Our goal is to create seamless community partnerships to build career pathways for local job seekers to enter middle-to-high-skilled occupations in the cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, and transportation sectors.”

Who Qualifies for the H1-B One Workforce Training Program?

It’s important to know that while this program is meant to train Americans and grow the U.S. workforce, not everyone is eligible to join it. You must know the requirements before you decide to train under this new program.

As mentioned earlier, the goal of the program is to decrease the United States’ dependence on foreign workers, and rather grow its workforce to counter skilled foreigners. The H1-B One Workforce Training Program is only available for U.S. citizens, either job seekers or retirees who want to improve their skills in technology. Of course, it’s also suitable for those who want a higher-paying job.

There are some requirements to fulfill before you qualify to join this program. Here is what you should follow if you wish to become part of the program and the strong U.S. workforce:

• You have to be at least 17 years old
• If you’re a U.S. military spouse, transitioning service member, or U.S. veteran, then you will have priority
• People who participate in the program should make sure they are not unemployed and underemployed people looking to get a full-time job
• You should not be enrolled in a secondary school within any local educational agency
• If you join the program, you should be looking forward to improving your skills to retain your job, or to move towards a middle- to high-skilled position

What Happens Next?

Now that this program has been announced, many Americans are waiting for it, while people who were looking towards the U.S. for employment as foreign workers may be worried about their chances. A few changes have been made to the work industry, changes that people will start to feel in the years to come, and even as early as the beginning of 2021.

One of the things to be noted is that there has been a very first visa bulletin released for the new financial year 2021 by USCIS. They announced that the visa limit for next year is much higher than we’re used to.

Other than that, Indian consultancy firms are also changing the way they hire. Big companies such as Wipro, TCS, Infosys, and HCL Technologies have decided that they are going to stop off-shoring the work to other Indians. Instead, they will focus on hiring local talent and grow the American workforce. Infosys, for instance, said that its goal is to gain a 25,000-strong workforce in the United States over five years. Because of that, they are planning to hire about 12,000 workers from the US within the next two years.

At the same time, Wipro has started doing some things to help the U.S. workforce. For example, they started a foundation meant to help train the local American workers and prepare them to work in highly skilled tech fields that Silicon Valley needs. This will help avoid any issues that come from the U.S. immigration laws that are constantly changing as time goes by.

Conclusion

Whether you’re an American looking towards building a better future or an H1-B worker who wanted to go to the U.S. for work, you should know about the new program. The H1-B One Workforce Training Program will help build the American workforce and have no need for so many foreign workers anymore.

It’s a good thing for Americans who want to upskill, get higher pay, and thus support themselves and their families much better. Even Indian companies are now looking towards U.S. workers so that the workforce grows and becomes much bigger, having Americans taking the positions. It will be interesting to see how this progresses.

Frank Gogol

I’m a firm believer that information is the key to financial freedom. On the Stilt Blog, I write about the complex topics — like finance, immigration, and technology — to help immigrants make the most of their lives in the U.S. Our content and brand have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and more.

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