It adds to the ban on work permits introduced two months ago.
US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order extending a ban on certain foreign workers from entering the United States.
The ban includes the J1 visa, a visa commonly used by Irish college students and recent graduates to temporarily work and live in the United States.
The executive order widens and extends the freeze Trump put on new work permits two months ago.
It will extend a ban on green cards issued outside the US until the end of 2020 and adds many other temporary work visas to the list of those banned.
This includes the H-1B visas, which many multinational and tech companies use to hire foreign workers with specialised knowledge, as well as H-2B visas for nonagricultural seasonal workers.
L-1 permits used by companies to relocate overseas workers to the US are also included in the ban as well as the aforementioned J-1 visas.
Speaking on Monday, a senior White House official said the move could free up 525,000 jobs for Americans as the country looks to slash the unemployment rate caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The move has proved unpopular with tech companies, who have long used the work visas to hire overseas talent.
“Immigration has contributed immensely to America’s economic success, making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on Twitter.
“Disappointed by today’s proclamation — we’ll continue to stand with immigrants and work to expand opportunity for all,” he added.
Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, Twitter’s head of public policy and philanthropy for the Americas, warned that the policy would ultimately hurt the US economy.
“This proclamation undermines America’s greatest economic asset: its diversity,” Herrera-Flanigan said in a statement.
“Unilaterally and unnecessarily stifling America’s attractiveness to global, high-skilled talent is short-sighted and deeply damaging to the economic strength of the United States.”
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