Administration’s Proposed Public Charge Rule Change Could Affect Businesses

Following the Administration announcing a proposal in September to make it harder for immigrants relying on public assistance to receive visas or green cards, Forbes’ interviewed former White House official Doug Rand to see what this would mean in practice, finding that it would cause delays in employment and could possibly affect over 500,000 temporary visa applications. ANCOR has been following this issue because of the rule’s potential effect on individuals our members support who could be immigrants, as well as the DSPs who provide front-line supports. ANCOR’s International Council is currently considering this topic – to join, please email Esme Grant Grewal at [email protected].

Politico Pro has also written on this issue, sharing that:

“Roughly 1.5 million people who receive public benefits could be directly affected by the proposed rule, according to a recent report by New American Economy, a pro-immigration group backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The group found the regulation could hit workers in construction, natural resources, mining, hospitality, recreation and food services, among other sectors.

[…]

Non-citizens are typically ineligible to receive government benefits, but the ripple effects could nonetheless disrupt the lives of U.S. citizen workers, according to Bergson-Shilcock. ‘Even if an employer doesn’t have a lot of immigrants on their payroll, they may have workers who are part of immigrant families,’ she said. A person with a foreign spouse, for instance, might need to take a different job to ensure the family maintains health care coverage.

[…]

“I would describe it as just massive regulatory uncertainty,” said the Cato Institute’s David Bier. “It’s going to have an impact on every employment-based immigrant.”

Bier adds that businesses already need to deal with visa paperwork that slows down the hiring process. For instance, most employers who hire temporary foreign workers need to take steps to demonstrate the hire won’t adversely affect the wages of U.S. workers.”

The comment period for the rule ends December 10.