Hillary Clinton, the US Democratic Party presidential candidate, is the complete opposite of Donald Trump. She is bent on immigration reform that allows for more people to enter the country and the belief that the country’s workforce is based on immigrants and American workers.

Clinton is working toward getting people their citizenship and bringing illegal immigrants out of the shadows so that they can register for legal entry into the US. In general, it would create a better environment for international students if Clinton was elected president in comparison to Trump. Or is it?

(Read also: What a Trump presidency could mean to international students)

Although most of the Republican candidates have been against an increase in H-1B visas, in comparison Hillary has stayed silent about it throughout the campaign. She has talked extensively about her immigration reforms and the important part of her policies for international students is that citizenship status is going to be more accessible, so that when finding a job after college, you don’t always have a clock over your head. The main problem that international students go through is applying for citizenship in the middle of college, because unlike countries such as Canada that give a year to find a job and apply for citizenship, American visas run out as soon as the four years of university end.

Coming back to the issue of the H-1B visa, which is the work visa that is given to international students to be able to work in the US, the strange thing is that Clinton has not mentioned her stance on these visas, and there seem to be no plans to change the way that H-1B visas will work during her administration. However, it is important to note that a few years ago Clinton said in a speech to Silicon Valley executives that she planned on increasing the number of H-1B visas. Although this means that the number of work visas will increase, we must ask the question, to whom are these going?

(Read also: Indonesian students head abroad due to complicated state university enrollment)

Clinton has given speeches to large banks where she has been paid US$300,000 or higher, and she still refuses to release the transcripts of those speeches. Many assume that if Clinton increases the number of H-1B visas, they would only be going to the wealthy tech companies so that they can outsource people to work in their companies for the absolute minimum wage. However, this is all just speculation as she has not made an official statement regarding this matter.

Clinton is a candidate that promises to reform the immigration system of the US, and seems to be favoring international students, however, we will have to wait and see whether these promises are fulfilled in office.

 

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Kenneth is a 17-year-old high school student who loves comic books, Dota 2, movies, political science and history. He is currently living in Jakarta and working toward his IB diploma. You can reach him at @kenneth2098 on Twitter.
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