New Rules for Work Visas in the USA

Comparing Money and Costs

In this text, we see words used to describe money and value. To reach A2, you need to know how to talk about costs and salaries.

Key Vocabulary for Money:

• Earn → To get money from working. (Example: New workers must earn more than $97,000.)
• Pay → To give money for a service or a person. (Example: Companies must pay $100,000.)
• Expensive → Something that costs a lot of money. (Example: These rules are too expensive.)

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The 'Too' Pattern

Notice the sentence: "These rules are too expensive."

When we use too + adjective, it means something is more than we want or need. It is usually a negative feeling.

• Too expensive → I cannot pay for it.
• Too hard → I cannot do it.
• Too late → I missed the time.

Quick Tip: If you want to say something is just a high price (but maybe you can still buy it), use very. If you want to say it is impossible to buy, use too.

The 'Academic Glue' Strategy

To move from A2 to B2, you must stop using simple sentences like "The government changed the rules. People are unhappy." Instead, you need Logical Connectors (the 'glue') to show how ideas relate.

⚡ The 'Contrast' Shift

In the text, we see a sophisticated way to show two opposing ideas:

*"On the other hand, some supporters argue..."

Why this is B2: A2 students use 'But'. B2 students use phrases that signal a shift in perspective.

Try this logic:

• Simple (A2): It is expensive, but it is good.
• Advanced (B2): The cost is quite high; on the other hand, the quality is exceptional.

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🛠️ Refining Your Precision: 'Increase' vs. 'Rise'

Notice how the author switches between these two words. This is a common B2 trap!

1. Increase (Action/Control): "...plan to increase the minimum salary requirements."

   • Rule: Something (the government) is making the number go up. It takes an object.

2. Rise (Natural Movement): "...entry-level salaries would rise from $73,279 to$97,746."

   • Rule: The subject (the salary) is moving upward on its own. It does not take an object.

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🧩 The 'Complex Cause' Pattern

Look at the phrase: "...prevent smaller companies from hiring foreign talent."

Structure: Prevent + Someone + From + Doing something

This is a high-value B2 structure. It is much more professional than saying "Smaller companies cannot hire because..."

Quick Formula for your writing: [The obstacle] $\rightarrow$ prevents $\rightarrow$ [the person] $\rightarrow$ from $\rightarrow$ [verb+ing] Example: "The heavy rain prevents me from walking to the park."

The Architecture of 'Institutional Nominalization'

To transition from B2 to C2, a student must stop viewing nouns as mere labels and start viewing them as conceptual containers. This text is a masterclass in Institutional Nominalization—the process of transforming dynamic actions into static, high-density nouns to project objectivity, authority, and bureaucratic distance.

🧩 The Mechanism: Action $\rightarrow$ Concept

Observe how the author avoids simple verbs (which imply a human agent) in favor of nominal clusters. This is the hallmark of C2-level formal discourse.

• B2 Approach: "The government is making the rules more restrictive to change how they get foreign workers."
• C2 Approach: "...implementing a series of restrictive measures... to modify the acquisition of foreign professional labor."

The Shift: Making rules $\rightarrow$ Restrictive measures; Getting workers $\rightarrow$ Acquisition of labor.

⚖️ Linguistic Nuance: The "Weight" of the Noun

Note the use of Cumulative Nominalization in the phrase:

"...the cumulative effect of these regulations—including increased adjudication scrutiny and processing delays..."

Here, the author doesn't say "the government is checking applications more closely" (verb-centric). Instead, they use "adjudication scrutiny."

C2 Insight: By turning the process of judging (adjudicate) and the act of looking closely (scrutinize) into a compound noun phrase, the text creates an atmosphere of inevitability. The "scrutiny" becomes a thing that exists in the world, rather than an action performed by a person. This removes subjectivity and increases the academic prestige of the prose.

🛠️ Strategic Application for the Learner

To emulate this, replace "doing" verbs with their "concept" counterparts:

B2/C1 Verb Phrase	C2 Institutional Nominalization
To make something better	To rectify a stagnation
To stop someone from getting	To restrict the window of...
The way people disagree	A divergence in perspective
The result of using visas	Visa utilization

The C2 Rule: When the context is systemic (law, economics, policy), prioritize the Noun Phrase over the Verb Phrase to achieve a 'detached' professional register.