Tech industry warns Trump’s visa crackdown risks driving talent abroad

Por Katherine Long — POLITICO – TOP Stories

The Trump administration’s push to suspend eight technology companies from a key green-card program that allows skilled workers to obtain permanent residency could undermine its own push to make the U.S. a global leader in innovation, four tech industry representatives have warned.

The companies, including Microsoft, Adobe and six IT services firms, can no longer use the Labor Department’s Permanent Labor Certification, or PERM, program to sponsor workers for permanent residency. Vice President JD Vance, speaking at a press conference on Thursday alongside Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling and other administration officials, accused Microsoft of abusing the program by prioritizing foreign workers over Americans.

“Highly skilled workers are an economic asset,” Daniel Castro, president of tech policy think tank Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said in a statement. “If the United States makes it harder for them to stay, it is not eliminating the competition for their talent — it is handing that talent to countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom, along with the jobs, tax revenue, and innovation those workers generate.”

The suspension is the latest step in Trump’s effort to restrict employment-based immigration, a push that has put the administration at odds with parts of the tech industry even as it courts companies as partners in its push for U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence. In September, the White House attempted to extend a $100,000 fee it imposed on new H-1B visas, though the action is facing multiple legal challenges.

The Trump administration also announced Thursday that it would probe nine universities to evaluate whether they may be committing fraud with a visa program that allows noncitizens to study and conduct research or graduate work on a J-1 visa.

A spokesperson for the vice president’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

A policy specialist at a major tech firm, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, referred to the suspension of firms’ access to PERM as another example of the White House’s “Jekyll and Hyde” approach to tech policy. The decision resembles the administration’s consideration to impose sweeping new tariffs on semiconductors, despite warnings from the industry that it could impede U.S. AI innovation.

“We’re going to see these types of workers, who would have traditionally come to the United States, create something wonderful in other parts of the world,” the person said. “And that’ll be pretty disappointing to the United States.”

One tech industry representative working on K Street, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said such measures would likely hit technology workers who have already worked in the U.S. for a significant period of time, and questioned whether this would make it harder to retain top talent from abroad.

“[W]e’re not just talking about bringing in new workers, we’re talking about people who’ve spent years working in the U.S. building careers, paying taxes, contributing to the economy, and building community with expectation there’s a path to staying permanently,” the person said.

Speaking at the Thursday press conference, Vance singled out Microsoft for its use of the visa program, accusing the company of fraud and pointing to the company’s decision to lay off thousands of employees earlier this year.

A spokesperson for the company said Microsoft would provide the White House with more information on the immigration status of its employees, emphasizing that the company “only files H-1B petitions for those who meet the rigorous standards of this visa category” and visa holders are paid the same as other employees doing “comparable work.”

The administration’s decision came just hours before Trump awarded Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Nadella was one of a handful of leading tech executives who were honored during a White House summit on the “golden age” of technology.

Nadella, who has led Microsoft since 2014, was born in Hyderabad, India, and later moved to the U.S. for graduate school.

“It doesn’t make sense to celebrate the talent and punish the companies that bring it here,” said Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of the left-leaning tech lobby group Chamber of Progress.

John Hewitt Jones contributed to this report.

Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories