In a move that may affect how the tech industry hires programmers from overseas, the United States quietly released a visa policy that could mean stricter scrutiny for companies seeking coders.

First spotted by Axios, a US Citizenship and Immigration Services memo posted online advises immigration officials to no longer follow an “obsolete” memo from 2000, which provided guidance on how to vet requests for H-1B visas, a type of visa for high-skilled workers that’s popular in the tech industry.

Instead, the new policy document focuses on the requirements for “specialty occupations.” An H-1B speciality occupation position requires at minimum a US bachelor’s degree in the…

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