"Plans to". After enough bribes have been paid, this will be dropped. I will bet cash on this.

so this pretty much kills the H-1B. How will it impact existing visa holders?

It’s too soon to know, but this could make 3-year H-1B renewals hugely problematic. That would be a major blow to the program. I was fortunate to get mine in 2014 without a single problem. There’s no way I’d expect someone to get through this process today. And realistically, most companies aren’t going to pay such a large premium just for a typical software engineer.

> And realistically, most companies aren’t going to pay such a large premium just for a typical software engineer.

This is the point, I think (whether I agree or not)

"Hire locally!" as a catch phrase wasn't working.

Then probably just more outsourcing? Which again, maybe the point is more to keep people from coming here and less to help American workers?

If the job was easy to effectively outsource, it would have been much cheaper for hiring organizations to outsource years ago rather than bring employees in on H-1Bs before this announcement.

> most companies aren’t going to pay such a large premium just for a typical software engineer.

Isn't that the idea tho? Stop companies abusing the h1b for "regular" staff? It's supposed to be for talent you can't find locally. So "exceptional" would fit, no?

(outsider perspective, eu here).