US President Donald Trump has ordered federal agencies to look at tightening a temporary visa programme used to bring high-skilled foreign workers to the United States.
Mr Trump signed an executive order on enforcing and reviewing the H-1B visa, popular in the technology industry, on a visit to the headquarters of Snap-On Inc, a tool manufacturer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, senior administration officials said.
In the document, known to the White House as the "Buy American and Hire American" order, Mr Trump also seeks changes in government procurement that would boost purchases of American products in federal contracts, with one aim being to help U.S.steelmakers.
The moves show Mr Trump once again using his power to issue executive orders to try to fulfil promises he made last year in his election campaign, in this case to reform US immigration policies and encourage purchases of US products.
Senior officials gave few details on implementation of the order but Trump aides have expressed concern that most H-1B visas are awarded for lower-paid jobs at outsourcing firms, many based in India, which they say takes work away from Americans.
They seek a more merit-based way to give the visas to highly skilled workers.
"Right now, widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries," Mr Trump said.
Companies that specialise in applying for H-1B visas on behalf of foreign workers, then connecting those workers with US employers, include Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Cognizant Tech Solutions Corp and Infosys Ltd.
Their business models could be affected by any changes to the H-1B system.
Infosys, India's number two IT services firm, has said it is ramping up work on on-site development centres in the United States to train local talent in an effort to address the visa regulation changes under consideration.
It warned last week that onerous changes to US visa rules could affect its earnings.
As he nears the 100-day benchmark of his presidency, Mr Trump still has no major legislative achievements.
With his attempts to overhaul healthcare and tax law not bearing fruit so far in a Congress controlled by his fellow Republicans, he has leaned heavily on executive orders to seek changes to the US economy.
The venue for Mr Trump's visit is a nod to his voter base in the manufacturing centers of the US heartland.
Wisconsin unexpectedly voted for the Republican last year, partly due to his promises to bring back industrial jobs.
His order will call for "strict enforcement of all laws governing entry into the United States of labour from abroad for the stated purpose of creating higher wages and higher employment rates for workers in the United States," a senior official said.
It will call on the departments of Labor, Justice, Homeland Security and State to crack down on what the official called "fraud and abuse" in the US immigration system, in order to protect US workers.
Instead of directly ordering a change to the H-1B visa programme, Mr Trump is taking a more cautious route that will likely take some time to produce actual results.
He will ask those federal departments to propose reforms to ensure those visas are awarded to the most skilled or highest paid applicant.
H-1B visas are intended for foreign nationals in occupations that generally require higher education, including science, engineering or computer programming.
The government uses a lottery to award 65,000 visas every year and randomly distributes another 20,000 to graduate student workers.
More than 15% of Facebook's US employeesin 2016 used a temporary work visa, according to a Reuters analysis of US Labor Department filings.
Critics say the lottery benefits outsourcing firms that flood the system with mass applications.
"Right now H-1B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery and that's wrong. Instead, they should be given to the most skilled and highest paid applicants and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans," Mr Trump said.
