Washington : U.S. President Donald Trump, who aims to overhaul immigration policies, is making key changes to the H-1B visa process. As part of this, a new system is being implemented for visa issuance. From March 20, the Foreign Labor Access Gateway system will remove old records and applications, bringing significant changes to the H-1B visa program. According to the latest orders, all records older than five years will be deleted from the system. Companies have been instructed to download and save any visa records older than five years by March 19, or they will lose access to them.

The Office of Foreign Labor Certification has issued notices stating that this deletion will impact Labor Condition Applications and Permanent Labor Certification Applications. The U.S. Immigration Department will soon introduce a new application process for issuing visas. The Trump administration has stated that this decision aims to provide more transparency to applicants. From this year, the U.S. is implementing a new policy for H-1B visas. If a beneficiary submits multiple applications, only one will be considered to prevent misuse of the lottery system.

The Trump administration is now targeting the Department of Education for closure. According to Reuters, the White House has indicated that Trump is set to sign an executive order to eliminate the department, fulfilling his election promise. Trump believes the department is influenced by liberal ideology and is determined to shut it down as part of cost-cutting measures. However, before Trump could sign the order, Democratic state attorneys general challenged it in court. Some experts argue that Trump cannot shut down the department without Congress’s approval, as Senate Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, but at least 60 votes are required to eliminate a cabinet-level agency, making it difficult to pass.