January 20, 2025

Changes to Business Immigration Under a New Presidential Administration

Holland & Knight Transportation Blog
Nora Katz | Hadeel M. Abouhasira
20 Blog Posts in 20 Days Leading to Inauguration Day

The transportation sector, including businesses in the infrastructure, aviation, maritime, automotive, shipping, logistics and other related industries, relies on foreign workers to meet industry demands and fill a variety of essential roles. Transportation is a critical sector of the global economy, enabling the movement of goods and people across regions and borders. As technology advances and supply chain demands evolve, the industry faces increasing pressure to innovate and maintain a competitive edge. A vital, yet often overlooked, factor in achieving these goals is addressing the workforce challenges through strategic business immigration policies, especially when entering a new administration.

The transportation sector is currently grappling with a shortage of skilled labor, particularly in specialized roles such as logistics analysts, supply chain engineers, industrial engineers and transportation planners. Additionally, the demand for technology-driven innovations, such as autonomous vehicles, electrification and smart logistics systems, requires a highly skilled workforce with expertise in fields including artificial intelligence, data analytics and software engineering.

Local labor markets often struggle to meet these demands, creating a gap that business immigration can help bridge. F-1 students and H-1B visa holders, for instance, bring valuable expertise to the industry, enabling companies to fill critical roles and maintain operational efficiency. Compared to industries such as information technology or healthcare, the transportation sector has historically underutilized immigration programs. To address these challenges, transportation companies can leverage business immigration programs to attract global talent even with the anticipated changes under the new administration.

Complex Regulations

Though business immigration offers significant benefits, companies must navigate a complex regulatory environment, particularly when there is a change in political power and policy. As the second Trump Administration takes effect, employers should prepare for an increase in enforcement efforts, including high-profile and high-volume enforcement events. For example: more rigorous worksite visit protocols and compliance measures being implemented to ensure adherence to the H-1B program's rules. Increased compliance and enforcement measures may impact the industry through administrative burdens, potential penalties or fines for noncompliance, and raids or audits that could disrupt operations. Employers should consider internal audits of I-9 employment eligibility records and prepare employees to respond to government inspections, raids and audits.

Moving forward, the Trump Administration may push for mandatory E-Verify employment verification for all employers, requiring companies to enhance their employment verification processes, potentially increasing administrative burdens. Increased border control and enhanced enforcement of immigration laws may slow cross-border freight movements, particularly between the U.S. and Mexico, leading to delays and bottlenecks in the supply chain. This may result in operational disruptions and increased costs within the transportation sector and could lead to higher consumer prices, affecting demand and economic stability.

In addition, the Trump Administration may terminate or stop processing new applications for protection under several humanitarian parole programs, many of which also provide U.S. work authorization. At present, there are various humanitarian programs in place for nationals of Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon, Nepal, Nicaragua, Sudan, Syria, Cuba, Somalia, Ukraine and other countries. Because of the transportation industry's high reliance on foreign workers to meet fill these roles, changes to these policies may also be disruptive to business.

Should these anticipated immigration policies reduce the U.S. workforce in transportation and logistics, the country's ability to remain competitive in global trade could weaken. Ports, trucking, and rail systems may struggle to keep up with demand, leading to potential loss of business to more efficient international competitors.

Of note, however, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a final rule (Rule), effective Jan. 17, 2025, that modernizes the H-1B program, which is heavily utilized by U.S. employers to employ professional foreign workers in specialty occupations. The Rule provides a variety of updates to the H-1B program, including revisions to the definition of a "specialty occupation," protections for certain F-1 students, codification of a long-standing deference policy and additional enforcement measures aimed at protecting the integrity of the program.

Under the Rule, employers in this sector may find additional flexibility in identifying qualifying occupations, more predictability during the H-1B extension process and additional protections for employers who hire recent graduates to perform professional roles, such as information technology (IT) engineers, supply chain analysts, logistics managers, cybersecurity specialists, project managers, industrial engineers or other related positions.

Though the Rule provides helpful updates to the H-1B program, employers can also expect to see more frequent requests for additional evidence, substantial additional scrutiny and unpredictability in adjudications. Anticipate changes to adjudication policy under the Trump Administration, which may result in higher costs, slower processing times and additional obstacles in securing work authorization for the foreign national population. Finally, employers should also be prepared for their employees to face delays with visa applications abroad and exercise caution when foreign workers travel internationally.

We anticipate additional updates to immigration processes under the second Trump Administration. For more information or questions, please contact the authors or a member of Holland & Knight's Immigration, Nationality and Consular Team.

20 Posts in 20 Days Leading to Inauguration Day on Jan. 20

Holland & Knight's Transportation & Infrastructure Industry Sector Group is prepared to assist industry clients in adapting to the anticipated changes by the new administration. Our team is writing new blog posts each day leading up to President-Elect Donald J. Trump's inauguration, with insights regarding likely impacts on the various segments of the industry, including aviation, construction, maritime, freight rail, motor carriers, transit and autonomous transportation. Bookmark our Election Impacts on Transportation & Infrastructure resource page to follow along.

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