In furtherance of his strict anti-immigration policies, the president of the United States, Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order that will suspend new visas for foreign workers till the end of 2020.

According to NBC News, this was disclosed by the White House on Monday, June 22.

It was gathered that the president claimed that the goal of the new order is to preserve jobs from American citizens amid the coronavirus pandemic which has adversely affected the country’s economy.When the executive order is signed, the categories to be affected include H1B visas for tech workers, H2B visas for low-skill jobs, and H4 visas for spouses of certain visa holders.

Others are J visas for those participating in work and student exchanges and L visas for intracompany transfers. They will all be suspended till December 31.

The new order will, however, exempt university professors and people working in food processing, such as agriculture or seafood.

There are indications that the new move by President Trump will meet backlash from the American business community.

Already, the American Immigration Lawyers Association has criticised the move. The association notes that while the government claims it is meant to save jobs, the reality is that “the jobs that these foreign nationals would have held are ones that U.S. workers can’t or won’t fill.”