The Trump administration's new rules for a US visa program widely used for technology workers are getting cautious praise from Silicon Valley amid surging demand for high-skill employees. The H-1B visa program, which admits some 85,000 foreign nationals each year, will give higher priority to people with post-graduate degrees from US universities, under a final rule published in January by the Department of Homeland Security.

"US employers seeking to employ foreign workers with a US master's or higher degree will have a greater chance of selection in the H-1B lottery" under the new rule, said Francis Cissna, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, in announcing the change on January 30.
The changes come with the tech industry pleading for more immigrants to fill key

skilled positions, and responds in part of concerns that the program has been exploited by some tech giants and outsourcing firms to depress wages and displace US employees.
“The changes are, on the whole, a positive step in the right direction,” said Todd Schulte of the immigration reform group FWD. US backed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and others in the industry. Ed Black of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said the program has not always been administered as well as it could have been.