Tech firms may soon need to find new recruiting ground to the fill high-paying positions that President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to make a core part of his plan to create more jobs and put "America first." Trump is reportedly considering a draft proposal to overhaul the current work visa program that Silicon Valley uses to bring tens of thousands of temporary workers into the U.S. from other countries each year.
"Our country’s immigration policies should be designed and implemented to serve, first and foremost, the U.S. national interest. Visa programs for foreign workers … should be administered in a manner that protects the civil rights of American workers and current lawful residents, and that prioritizes the protection of American workers -- our forgotten working people -- and the jobs they hold," a draft of the proposal reads.
Details of the proposal, first reported by Bloomberg News late Sunday, come as much of Silicon Valley still reels from Trump's recent immigration orders, which prompted public backlash from dozens of tech leaders over the weekend and protests around the country. But while strongly-worded statements from executives addressed how a ban on immigrants and refugees from predominantly Muslim countries undercuts Silicon Valley's values, changes to the current work-visa program figure to have a more direct effect on tech firms. Requests for comment to companies that have utilized the program were not immediately returned Monday.
It's unclear how soon any changes could take effect if Trump introduces executive orders on the program. Steve Bannon, a close adviser to Trump and former chairman of Breitbart News, hinted at an overhaul days after the election last November, saying that "two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia." White House press secretary Sean Spicer addressed the issue only generally Monday, telling reporters that changes were part of "a larger immigration effort."
Criticism of foreign visas, in particular the H-1B visa tailored to the engineers and computer scientists who remain in high demand in Silicon Valley, isn't new. Stories of mistreatment and wage violations by labor brokers running so-called "body shops" are rampant in the tech sector, a prize target for abuse given the increasing demand and historically high wages. Millions of dollars each year are withheld from workers trying to secure employment with tech companies, the Center for Investigative Reporting found in a detailed 2014 report. Earlier this month, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat who represents Silicon Valley, proposed legislation to curb such abuse by encouraging higher pay and setting aside 20 percent of H-1B visas for startups with fewer than 50 employees, among other things. "It lets the market forces work," Lofgren said of the bill, adding that it would be prevent the program from "undercutting the wages of American workers."
At the same time, many of Silicon Valley's most successful companies, including Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, have found a steady stream of foreign talent through the H-1B program. Some have highlighted these successes in an attempt to counter the narrative that the program allows for labor abuses. Company specific statistics were not immediately available, but government data suggests that tech firms are among the biggest beneficiaries of the program. The Department of Labor received more than 618,000 applications last year, up roughly 4% from the previous year.
Congress currently caps the number of H-1B visas awarded annually at 65,000, though the number granted is actually higher because of a series of exemptions available to academic institutions and workers from specific countries. A spokeswoman for the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services office declined to comment on Trump's proposed order. A request for comment was not immediately returned by the Trump administration.
The annual application window for H-1B visas opens April 1.
"Our country’s immigration policies should be designed and implemented to serve, first and foremost, the U.S. national interest. Visa programs for foreign workers … should be administered in a manner that protects the civil rights of American workers and current lawful residents, and that prioritizes the protection of American workers -- our forgotten working people -- and the jobs they hold," a draft of the proposal reads.
Details of the proposal, first reported by Bloomberg News late Sunday, come as much of Silicon Valley still reels from Trump's recent immigration orders, which prompted public backlash from dozens of tech leaders over the weekend and protests around the country. But while strongly-worded statements from executives addressed how a ban on immigrants and refugees from predominantly Muslim countries undercuts Silicon Valley's values, changes to the current work-visa program figure to have a more direct effect on tech firms. Requests for comment to companies that have utilized the program were not immediately returned Monday.
It's unclear how soon any changes could take effect if Trump introduces executive orders on the program. Steve Bannon, a close adviser to Trump and former chairman of Breitbart News, hinted at an overhaul days after the election last November, saying that "two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia." White House press secretary Sean Spicer addressed the issue only generally Monday, telling reporters that changes were part of "a larger immigration effort."
Criticism of foreign visas, in particular the H-1B visa tailored to the engineers and computer scientists who remain in high demand in Silicon Valley, isn't new. Stories of mistreatment and wage violations by labor brokers running so-called "body shops" are rampant in the tech sector, a prize target for abuse given the increasing demand and historically high wages. Millions of dollars each year are withheld from workers trying to secure employment with tech companies, the Center for Investigative Reporting found in a detailed 2014 report. Earlier this month, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat who represents Silicon Valley, proposed legislation to curb such abuse by encouraging higher pay and setting aside 20 percent of H-1B visas for startups with fewer than 50 employees, among other things. "It lets the market forces work," Lofgren said of the bill, adding that it would be prevent the program from "undercutting the wages of American workers."
At the same time, many of Silicon Valley's most successful companies, including Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, have found a steady stream of foreign talent through the H-1B program. Some have highlighted these successes in an attempt to counter the narrative that the program allows for labor abuses. Company specific statistics were not immediately available, but government data suggests that tech firms are among the biggest beneficiaries of the program. The Department of Labor received more than 618,000 applications last year, up roughly 4% from the previous year.
Congress currently caps the number of H-1B visas awarded annually at 65,000, though the number granted is actually higher because of a series of exemptions available to academic institutions and workers from specific countries. A spokeswoman for the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services office declined to comment on Trump's proposed order. A request for comment was not immediately returned by the Trump administration.
The annual application window for H-1B visas opens April 1.
