According to Breitbart, the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to expand its H-1B visa program for guest workers in the country in order to combat the economic slowdown due to the spread of the coronavirus.
Specifically, the DHS announced on Monday that it would decrease the use of “premium processing” in order to “reduce overall H-1B processing times.” Under premium processing, certain companies can pay a fee to take priority over other companies under consideration for H-1Bs, but the process takes longer to ultimately hand out the visas.
The DHS awards approximately 100,000 H1B visas per year, with 85,000 going to various companies to hire foreign workers, mostly from India, and another 15,000 going to non-profit groups such as universities and medical facilities.