2018 Employment-Based Immigration Overview and Likely Impacts on U.S. Businesses

A series of articles nicely describes the current state of the employment-based immigration environment in the U.S., the outlook for 2018, and responses from U.S. high tech businesses and employees.

First, requests for additional evidence and denials of H-1B Petition are at an all-time high. In fact, the CIS denied more than twice as many H-1B petitions in November 2017 compared to the same time last year. Second, Bloomberg summarizes expected trends in employment-based immigration in 2018, including increased enforcement and increased scrutiny of all immigrant and nonimmigrant petitions filed by U.S. employers. Finally, U.S. tech companies are increasingly looking to Canada as a base of operations due to Canada’s more welcoming and more easily navigable employment-based immigration system. 

Timothy R. Bakken
Founder

DACA Is an Economic Boon

According to a new economic study, the end of DACA would mean $460 billion in lost GDP, not to mention the bureaucratic and legal mess required to try and deport more than 700,000 young people. DACA recipients, or “Dreamers”, have used this program to better themselves (91% of DACA recipients are employed), our communities, and our country. 

Timothy R. Bakken
Founder

Debunking the Myth of Uneducated Immigrants

If one looks to data, rather than relying on stereotypes, the conclusion is obvious: Immigrants coming to the United States in the last 15-20 years are more highly educated and highly skilled than in the past.  Almost half of the immigrants in the U.S. between 2010 and 2015  had university degrees. 15% of immigrants hold professional or doctoral degrees, a higher percentage than for native-born Americans. Since the year 2000, the number of immigrants with a college degree has doubled. Click here to learn more about the education levels of immigrants, including links to statistical studies showing increasing education achievements of immigrants.

Timothy R. Bakken
Founder

The Truth Behind Immigration and Outsourcing: Immigration Keeps Jobs in the U.S.

Immigration helps keep jobs in the U.S. rather than losing them to other countries, especially when it comes to IT jobs, as explained by this Forbes article.  In fact, at many American universities the majority of graduate students in engineering and computer science are international students who hope to work in the U.S. in highly skilled and technical positions. The more high-skilled visa workers that we have here, the less need we have to send work abroad to be performed by high-skilled workers located outside the U.S.  Employment of high-skilled workers in the U.S. strengthens American companies and creates more jobs in the U.S. We should not give in to xenophobia and our laws should welcome and encourage immigration of intelligent, ambitious, educated, highly skilled, and creative individuals from throughout the world.

Timothy R. Bakken
Founder