WORK VISA POLITICS AND EFFECT ON ECONOMY

The immigration issue was successfully weaponized during the 2016 elections by Donald Trump. Outrageous charges were made from calling all Mexican illegal immigrants as rapists and criminals to how the Democrats were going to have an “open border” policy. While the charges were factually untrue, a part of the uninformed electorate chose to believe Trump.

It appears that the same script is being used again even though both legal and illegal immigration is significantly down. Unlike 2016, now the power of presidential directives are with Donald Trump. During the past three years, such directives have been effectively used to cancel previous presidential directives and in some cases long-established practices. Presidential directives in the area of immigration are almost as good as laws in the short run. It sometimes takes months and even years to overturn a presidential directive.

The latest directive which may have a huge negative impact on the economy is the cancellation of various kinds of work visas. The category I am concerned about in particular is H-1B. This category is an annually renewable work permit, needs an employer sponsor, and usually granted to people whose skill set is in short supply in the US.

The coronavirus pandemic has severely affected all sectors of the economy. The only ones which have remained unscathed are businesses like Amazon and those companies like Microsoft which support “working from home” technical platforms, telehealth, and similar businesses. There are over 500,000 unfilled jobs in this area at the current time. Bringing highly qualified technical people under H-1B visas will not take away jobs from Americans but will strengthen American companies and the economy.

The shortsighted directive to suspend H-1B will mean that U.S. companies will have to set up centers in Canada and Mexico or outsource work to faraway countries.  Canada is actually eagerly seeking high tech people from all over the world with enticing economic incentives and liberal immigration policies. European Union is doing the same.

Similar uncertainties have been created in other categories of work visas like L-1 reserved for employers who need to transfer managers, executives, or specialized knowledge from a foreign entity to a U.S. entity. This category is used by global companies to move executives from one country to another and is essential for international business. Foreign countries also grant our executives similar privileges to work in joint ventures or subsidiaries of U.S. companies. 

For many large U.S. corporations, including well-known ones like McDonald’s, Boeing, or Apple, most of the growth and profits come from foreign markets. Inconsistent work visa policies create one more handicap for U.S. corporations whereas foreign governments are implicit partners with their businesses in the area of external trade.

Visa processing is not an expense for the federal government because it is entirely funded by visa fees paid by the applicants or their sponsors. With the decline in applicants’ fees because of various cuts and roadblocks to work permits, the processing time has gone up. This creates problems for personnel planning in addition to a longer wait for essential skilled workers.

We are engaged in a continuing battle with the rest of the world to maintain our economic position but the politically motivated Visa policies of the Trump administration put us at a decided disadvantage. Trump’s “America First” means America ALONE and that is definitely the wrong prescription for the U.S. economy trying to stay competitive in the global market.