There is a large percentage of foreign, highly-skilled
employees that are working in tech firms in the United States. These foreign
employees are working under the visa program called H1-B that allows the
immigrants to work in the United States. However, a new order in the country
bans foreign workers from entering the country on non-immigrant visas until the
end of the year.
Immigrant workers have positively affected the tech market
in the United States and the economy. While the executive order was for recovery
of the economy, many tech companies from states like Silicon Valley have voiced
against it because the results may be quite the opposite. Sundar Pichai, Google
CEO, who is also an immigrant, expressed his disapproval on Twitter and said
that immigrants had played a vital role in making the US a global leader in the
tech world. He continued to express by saying that there should be an
opportunity for all.
America’s biggest computer and tech-based companies rely
heavily on foreign talent and the workforce they bring. These tech giants
include Google, IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Intel, and even Facebook. In
2019, there were more than 2000 Labor Condition Applications for H1-B visas by
these companies.
According to the data from the LCA, as mentioned above, the
average salary of the foreign employees was revealed, and the numbers indicated
that the foreign workers were, in fact, filling up the jobs that required
specific skills. This fact trumps Donald Trump’s allegations about the tech
companies abusing the specialty visas to hire cheap immigrant workers.
Infographic by: statista.com
