Joe Biden’s executive order to regulate AI likely to make immigration faster

To promote innovation and attract artificial intelligence (AI) talent to the United States, an ‘Executive Order’ issued by US President Joe Biden seeks to use existing authorities to expand the ability of highly skilled immigrants and non-immigrants with AI expertise to study, stay, and work in the US by modernizing and streamlining visa criteria, interviews, and reviews.

The executive order not only establishes new guidelines to protect the national security and privacy of its citizens but also seeks to balance the needs of technology companies by attracting talent from across the world.

Impact of executive order on immigration

The Hindustan Times in a report said the Executive Order (EO) on AI is expected to be beneficial for Indian IT professionals in the US. The EO will help in getting faster H1B, O-1, F1, and Green Card for work and study in AI fields. The experts also opined that EB1-B and EB2 criteria are also expected to change to give priority to professionals in the field of artificial intelligence.

The report quoted Anil Gupta, an immigration expert from the US, saying that the executive order may not lead to any increase in green cards or any country-wise benefits. He said the US can reform the EB1 and EB2 categories. ‘It is possible that USCIS will create a relaxed or separate category within EB1-B where they allow people to work in the AI field,’ he added.

The key takeaways

The executive order seeks to analyze, create, and publish the policies that help foreign nationals working in the AI field to stay and convert to green card status.

It seeks to, “streamline processing times of visa petitions and applications, including by ensuring timely availability of visa appointments, for non-citizens who seek to travel to the United States to work on, study, or conduct research in AI or other critical and emerging technologies.”

To ensure easy immigration for AI professionals the EO has asked the secretary to, “consider implementing a domestic visa renewal program under 22 C.F.R. 41.111(b) to facilitate the ability of qualified applicants, including highly skilled talent in AI and critical and emerging technologies, to continue their work in the United States without unnecessary interruption.”

To streamline and reform the immigration process for AI professionals the EO seeks to, “clarify and modernize immigration pathways for experts in AI and other critical and emerging technologies, including O-1A and EB-1 noncitizens of extraordinary ability; EB-2 advanced-degree holders and noncitizens of exceptional ability; and startup founders in AI and other critical and emerging technologies using the International Entrepreneur Rule.”

The executive order also called on Congress to provide clear guidelines to prevent AI-induced discrimination in housing, federal benefits, and federal contracts.

The order aims to balance AI’s promise of improved productivity with potential threats like job displacement and workplace surveillance, advocating for collective bargaining and workforce training.

The EO requires leading AI developers to share safety test results and other information with the government. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is to create standards to ensure AI tools are safe and secure before public release.