H1B visa fee used to fund apprentice programme: US commerce secretary

Washington, July 18

The United States is funding its apprentice programme from the H-1B visa fee, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday.

Ross said the Trump administration had launched a new “Industry-Recognised Apprenticeship System” in a major effort to spur employer-led training and was now planning to expand it.

The commerce secretary said the additional public funding could help establish new apprenticeship programmes in the travel and tourism industry.

According to Ross, the Department of Labour has USD 100 million in funding available for about 30 apprenticeship grants. These will go to public/private partnerships to develop new apprenticeship models and expand existing apprenticeship programmes.

In his address to the US Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, Ross said: “The funding source is the fees companies pay to hire foreign workers under the H-1B visa programme. These fees are then provided as grants for training American workers in the occupations for which employers are hiring H-1B workers, such as IT jobs.”

The Department of Labour is expanding its apprenticeship programmes to include cyber-security and artificial intelligence since every sector of the economy required workers with these skill sets, he added. PTI