Incredible sign on letter from corporate America to Trump highlighting the value of skilled immigrants, and how a pause on immigration will be harmful

[afacc123]

The Honorable Donald J. Trump President of the United States of America The White House
Washington, DC 20500
The Honorable Secretary Michael Pompeo Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
The Honorable Secretary Eugene Scalia Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20210
The Honorable Acting Secretary Chad Wolf Department of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20528
May 21, 2020
Dear Mr. President and Honorable Secretaries,
The undersigned organizations, speaking for a variety of sectors and geographies across the American economy, and small, medium, and large employers, are writing about the importance of the high-skilled workforce to America’s economic recovery. In particular, the undersigned represent employers that rely on a highly skilled, college-educated, science and engineering workforce, including nonimmigrant professionals, to innovate, produce, research, develop, and lead. At this critical juncture in our nation’s history, the ability to continue to do so is in the national interest.
We urge you to avoid outcomes, even for temporary periods, that restrict employment-authorization terms, conditions, or processing of L-1, H-1B, F-1, or H-4 nonimmigrants. Constraints on our human capital are likely to result in unintended consequences and may cause substantial economic uncertainty if we have to recalibrate our personnel based on country of birth.
We join you in your continued commitment to protect the health and economic well-being of Americans, and hope our attached Appendix is helpful as you consider weighty judgments on how to navigate this important moment.
Respectfully submitted,
324 employers and trade, industry, and higher education associations and groups across the American economy focused on the high-skilled workforce (signatory list follows Appendix)

APPENDIX
Importance to the nation of the STEM workforce and avoiding artificial constraints to this workforce
IMPORTANCE OF THE COLLEGE-EDUCATED STEM WORKFORCE, INCLUDING NONIMMIGRANTS
STEM Jobs. It has been well-understood in the post-World War II era that the STEM workforce is of
particular interest to all developed economies because of its central role in fostering innovation, economic competitiveness, and national security. The centrality of the STEM workforce across the American economy is evidenced by the fact that in the 21st century Americans with university STEM degrees are called upon to use their quantitative skills in finance, public administration, professional services, manufacturing, information, education, health care, transportation, and retail, in addition to high-tech, as the Census Bureau has explained. However, over the years, computer-related professional job openings have outstripped the availability of qualified Americans to fill those positions. For this reason, the Department of Homeland Security reports that 66% of all H-1B approvals are in computer-related occupations and, correspondingly, the Department of Labor reports that 60% of Permanent Labor Certifications approved to sponsor new green card holders are in the computer and mathematical occupations, with most such labor certifications filed on behalf of H-1B visa holders. Importantly, when Department of Labor wage data on H-1B workers is compiled, as the Cato Institute did for a May 2020 article, “the unequivocal takeaway from the data is that H-1B employers are, on average, paying a premium for many of their foreign workers.” Today, the unemployment rate in computer occupations remains low, at about 2.8% through April 2020, according to a May 2020 analysis of government occupational level data.
Innovation. Foreign-born STEM professionals have had a positive impact on the American economy. As described in a July 2019 economic study on the impact of highly-skilled STEM immigration on the U.S. economy, the foreign-born share of STEM professionals in the United States increased from about 16% to 24% over the period 2000 to 2015 creating an estimated benefit of $103 billion for American workers almost all “attributed to the generation of ideas associated with high-skilled STEM immigration which promotes the development of new technologies that increase the productivity and wages of U.S.-born workers.” An economic report on global talent and U.S. immigration policy published in April 2020 highlights that when looking at the net global migration of inventors from 2000 to 2010 China and the United States are at opposite ends of the spectrum, where China receives virtually no immigrant inventors and instead possesses the largest number of natives moving to other countries to become inventors elsewhere. The United States dwarfs all other 26 advanced economies in the world in welcoming new inventors, with about ten times that of Germany, the next highest country. Indeed, economists from George Borjas in June 1986 (National Bureau of Economic Research) to those at the Census Bureau and George Mason University in February 2019 (IZA - Institute for Labor Economics) to William Kerr in April 2020 (Harvard Business School) have consistently found that for immigrants coming to America their propensity toward innovation, as well as entrepreneurship, is higher than for U.S.-born workers. We want to continue to harness that innovation and entrepreneurship for America and Americans, and we’re sure the administration wants the same.
Nonimmigrants. Among the nonimmigrant classifications that play a role in providing access to this STEM workforce for American employers, three classifications have been most critical and have been tools in our toolbox for decades: the L-1, H-1B and F-1 nonimmigrant classifications.
o Created by Congress in 1970, over the last 50 years the L-1 visa category has been available to facilitate international transfers of existing employees to the United States within related firms. A cornerstone of business operations for those that do business both in the United States and abroad has been the ability to transfer current staff that are managers, executives, and specialized knowledge personnel across national boundaries in order to harmonize operations, expand markets, service clients, and share knowledge.
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o Established in the 1952 rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws, for over 65 years the H-1 visa classification has existed to allow U.S. employers to hire professionals born outside our country. Since 1990, this category has been subject to numerical limits and a labor condition application, and the category has been designated as the H-1B visa.
o In August 1947 the Department of Justice promulgated a regulation permitting "employment for practical training" for international students, after completion of the student’s regular course of study. For over 70 years, a program allowing such post-completion employment authorization for international students has continued, now through Department of Homeland Security regulations governing F-1 nonimmigrants.
The stability of America’s workforce – including L-1, H-1B, and F-1 nonimmigrants – cannot be more important than at this very moment when the Trump administration and the entire nation look to our companies to reinforce the backbone of the national economy.
IMPORTANCE OF AVOIDING UNNECESSARY CHURN IN THE COLLEGE-EDUCATED STEM WORKFORCE, INCLUDING NONIMMIGRANTS
Churn. Economists define “churn” as hiring for replacement, which means that a prior worker, being replaced, left voluntarily or was terminated. Turnover may come about because employers grow and shrink, but more frequently because of churn. Separations in the employment relationship that occur based solely on changed agency policy choices governing nonimmigrant employment authorization create additional churn and result in inefficiency. Thus, at this critical juncture in our nation’s economic life, creating government-mandated churn in our human capital creates significant risks because the ramifications of those decisions will quickly reach into our capacity and productivity.
L-1. Narrowing access to L-1 intracompany transfers is a significant concern as we respond to Covid-19 challenges, because appropriate use of the L-1 classification by employers plays a direct role in supporting job creation and job retention in the United States, as well as expanding U.S. advanced manufacturing, continuing U.S.-centered research and development, increasing exports from the U.S., and encouraging foreign direct investment into the U.S. Multinational companies, of the type that might qualify to use the L-1 category, employ about one-quarter of all U.S. private sector employees. The impact of business disruption to a group of firms that play such an outsized role in the economy is significant.
With regard to U.S.-based R&D, an economist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania assessed Department of Commerce data in a February 2020 study and found restrictive high-skilled immigration policies encouraged multinational companies to off-shore R&D efforts. As the Wharton economist explains, “From a nationalistic perspective, this is problematic; if skilled foreign-born workers are at a U.S. firm’s foreign affiliate instead of in the U.S., the innovative spillovers that they generate will go to another country instead.” The National Science Foundation's 2020 reports show that the U.S. performs one- quarter of global STEM R&D, the largest percentage for any single nation; that STEM R&D performed in the U.S. increased sharply in 2017, up 10% when compared to 2015 and 34% higher than 2010; that 73% of all development research in the U.S. is performed by private sector businesses; and that U.S. multinational firms are responsible for 80% of such private R&D in the U.S. Changing long-standing immigration policies risks many unintended consequences, including disruption of these positive trends.
H-1B. Temporarily or indefinitely eliminating or reducing the H-1B program or discouraging its use would not create or leave more jobs for U.S. natives and would risk reducing growth and productivity. The University of Chicago did a survey in February 2017 through its Initiative on Global Markets (IGM Forum), asking its panel of economists from Yale, MIT, Princeton, Berkeley, Harvard, and Stanford about the following premise: “If the U.S. significantly lowers the number of H-1B visas now, employment for American workers will rise materially over the next four years.” None (0) of the economists agreed with the premise, 81% disagreed, 19% were
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uncertain. A May 2017 economic study on firm dynamics and immigration found that completely eliminating the H-1B category would ultimately result in a 3.7% decrease in GDP. An August 2018 economic study on the relationship between H-1B visa petitions and the entry of new products and exit of outdated products (product reallocation) concluded that firm-level analysis shows H-1B visa petitions are associated with higher rates of product reallocation. Generating product reallocation is one measure to identify where smaller, incremental innovations are occurring. In a seminal economic evaluation of H-1B visas and productivity in 219 American cities, published in the Journal of Labor Economics in July 2015, economists concluded that their simulations showed an increase of H-1B visa holders in a city explained increased productivity. Specifically, the economists found that “foreign STEM growth explained between one-third and one-half of the average Total Factor Productivity growth during the period” 1990 to 2010. It seems the Trump administration should not initiate a realignment of the H-1B category to respond to a downturn in the economy, especially because history shows
1
OPT. As the number of U.S. postsecondary STEM degrees attained by F-1 nonimmigrants has steadily grown, the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, to include the STEM OPT extension, has correspondingly become a significant pipeline for the U.S. STEM workforce. As explained by CRS in November 2019, from school year 88-89 (the earliest year for which annual data are available) to school year 16-17 (the most recent year for which data are available) there has been a 315% increase in STEM degrees awarded in the U.S. to foreign students, most of which is at the graduate level. When the Business Roundtable of American CEOs (BRT) partnered with the Interindustry Forecasting Project of the University of Maryland (Inforum) to assess the OPT program the resulting December 2018 report showed a negative impact to the U.S. economy should OPT participation be reduced. The BRT-Inforum modeling showed, among other things, a loss of 443,000 jobs over a decade, including 225,000 jobs held by native-born workers. Relatedly, an economist's study in March 2019, analyzing unemployment among STEM workers in 102 metro areas, concluded that unemployment rates are lower in areas with larger numbers of F-1 nonimmigrants doing OPT as a share of workers in STEM occupations. When the Niskanen Center reported on its OPT research in March 2019 its data suggest that 10 additional OPT participants working in a core-based statistical area (CBSAs are aggregated metropolitan areas) leads to 5 additional patents originating in that CBSA. The economic risk of taking steps that might dilute the utility of OPT as a pipeline is further highlighted by a policy brief from October 2018 that illustrated that 22% of America’s billion-dollar start-ups had at least one immigrant founder that first came to the U.S. as an international student.
H-4. Lastly, we draw attention to H-4 dependent spouses of the H-1B professionals we are sponsoring for green card status. These H-4 visa holders are permitted to work when they are waiting in long immigrant visa backlogs after the sponsoring employers have completed all legal hurdles to classify the H-1B professional as an immigrant. Economists conducted a cost-benefit analysis in April 2019 on whether H-4 spousal work authorization rules should be rescinded, and found that rescinding the H-4 employment authorization regulation would cost the U.S. economy some $7.5 billion including loss of employment for American workers employed by the 2% of H-4 workers that have started their own businesses and employ 5 workers on average. The same economists found that 66% of employed H-4 visa holders held a job in a core STEM field, another 16% in business, finance, or management, and another 8% were health care professionals or health care support workers.
1 The only three fiscal years since FY1997 where cap-subject H-1B petitions did not exceed the numerical limit at some time prior to the end of the fiscal year were FY2000, 2001 and 2002, years for which Congress had temporarily increased the H-1B cap to 195,000 in response to the dotcom explosion. Because the new numbers became available only as the dotcom bubble burst, cap-subject H-1B filings in those three fiscal years were 163,600, 79,100, and 78,000 respectively – with decreasing numbers, well under the cap in each successive year. Similarly, following the 2008 great recession, H-1B filings were significantly down such that the numerical limits were not met in April (H-1B cap-subject filings are made in April for the government’s fiscal year beginning October 1 of that calendar year). The so-called “regular cap” of 65,000 H-1B petitions was met in December 2009, January 2011, November 2011, and June 2012 for, respectively, FY2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. When the economy is stronger, numerical H-1B limits are met in April, as in calendar years 2008 and 2009 (for FY2009 and 2010) and calendar years 2014 to the present (for FY2015 to 2021).
    us that H-1B demand from employers is tightly connected to market forces.
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1871 – Chicago’s Technology & Entrepreneurship Center ACE Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine Institute, Inc. Adex Medical Staffing, LLC Adobe Advanced Polymer Coatings
airCFO Akamai Technologies Altair Global Amazon.com American First Finance Inc. American Immigration Lawyers Association Applied Value LLC APPS Solutions inc Arch Group LLC Argo AI, LLC Ariston Tek Inc Arizona Technology Council (AZTC) Asana Aspen Technology, Inc. Association of American Universities Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities Attentive Aulder Capital Aurora Avicenna Medical Systems, Inc. Avventis Tech Inc Axess North America Baslee Engineering Solutions (BES), Inc Bates White BBVA Digital Bank - San Francisco Rep Office Belcher Pharmaceuticals, LLC Benefit Resource, Inc. BIO-key International, Inc. BioBridge Global Biogen Biologique Recherche USA Bloom Energy Bloomberg Bluestone Lane Box, Inc. Brandinc US, Inc Briteskies, LLC BSA | The Software Alliance Business Roundtable Cadence Design Systems, Inc. California Technology Council (CTC) Carbon Health Technologies, Inc. Cardone Industries Inc censhare US Inc.
Ceva Logistics
Chatanooga Technology Council
Chr. Hansen, Inc.
Cisco Systems Inc.
Citadel Drilling
CivilTech Engineering, Inc.
Clockwise Inc
Colorado Technology Association (CTA) Complete Genomics
Computer Measurement Group (CMG) Computing Technology Industry Association Connecticut Technology Council (CTC) Consonus Health
Consumer Technology Association Contentsquare
Credit Karma, Inc.
CrowdSmart
Cyclomedia Technology Inc.
Dashlane
Dedrone
Deem, Inc.
Dell Technologies
Dematic
Demon Oilfield Services Corp.
Derakhshan Consulting LLC
DMG MORI USA, Inc.
DoorDash
DotHouse Health
Dr. Schar USA
Dropbox
DRS Engineering Inc.
DTC Global Services LLC
E.W. Howell Co., LLC
E&M Electric and Machinery, Inc.
Enanta Pharmaceuticals Inc
Essence Corp
ETS
Facebook
Far East Metals, Inc.
Fast
FEAM Maintenance/Engineering
Finsight Group Inc
FirstPass Global, Inc
Fitesa Simponville Inc
FlagshipKansas.Tech
Forensic Fluids Laboratories
ForgeRock, Inc.
Fortress Engineering Ltd.
Furniture Design Studios, Inc
SIGNATORIES
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Fusion Technologies Inc FWD.us g2o, LLC Game Prophecies, Inc. Garmin International, Inc. GCP Tech Genius Minds LLC Getaround GitHub Glamsquad Global Business Alliance Global Engine Maintenance LLC GN Hearing Care Golden Technology, Inc Google, Inc. Grandison Management Great Point Partners Greater Memphis IT Council Greater Nashville Technology Council Green Village Concrete INC GreenShape LLC greight freight llc Harco Manufacturing Group, LLC. HBPO North America, Inc. Hennepin Healthcare System, Inc. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Himax Imaging Hired Hirsch Bedner Associates Horizon Hydraulics HP Inc. HUMAC INC. I&L Investments and Management, Inc. Idaho Tech Council (ITC) Illinois Technology Association (ITA) iLogic inc Information Technology Industry Council InfoTech Resources Insight Venture Management LLC Instacart Institute of International Bankers Integrated Automation Systems, LLC Intel Corporation Intuit IPEX Global Inc Isthmus Engineering, Inc Jantzen Brands Corporation Juniper Networks Jyve Corporation
KabanaSoft LLC
KC Tech Council
Khan Academy
Kleiner Perkins
Knoxville Technology Council Kolla Soft Inc
Kong Dragon Capital Investment Kongsberg Digital
L’Oreal Travel Retail Americas, Inc. Laguro, Inc.
LANXESS Corporation
Lilu, Inc.
LinkedIn
Louis Dreyfus Company LLC LUCITO
Lyft
Lynk Inc.
MachiningCloud Inc
Madrona Venture Group
MANN+HUMMEL Purolator Filters LLC
Maryland Tech Council (MTC)
Masimo Corporation
Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (MassTLC) Matician Inc
MBLM
McMillen Jacobs Associates
Medialocate, Inc
Medium
Microbiologics
Micron Technology, Inc.
Microsoft Corporation
Mid-America Technology Alliance
Millbrook Revolutionary Engineering Inc
Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA)
Mokuni LLC
Montana High-Tech Business Alliance
Monzlapur New York
MUEngineers, Inc.
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
NAM Info Inc
Nasdaq
NationsBenefits LLC
NAVAC Inc.
Netgear, Inc.
Nevada Technology Association
New American Economy
New Jersey Tech Council (NJTC)
New Mexico Technology Council (NMTC)
New York Tech Alliance
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NH Tech Alliance North Carolina Technology Association (NC TECH) Northern Virginia Technology Council Nova Credit Inc. Novita Communications Nuvia, Inc NXP Semiconductors Ohio IT Association Okta ON Semiconductor OnSiteIQ Inc Palm Beach Tech Association PayPal PEGRight Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT) Pirelli Tire LLC Pittsburgh Technology Council Postmates PreciseLED.INC Pronix Propeller Health PVH Corp (Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation) Qnergy, Inc. quadric.io Inc Quallcom, Inc. R.H. Chen Engineering Region Technologies Inc Remedy Analytics, Inc. Remitly Ricoh Printing Systems America, Inc. Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council Roblox Corporation Rollbar, Inc. Salesforce SAMSON Controls, Inc. SAP SEBA International LLC SEDA Environmental Segment.io, Inc. Selldorf Architects Selux Diagnostics Semex USA, Inc. Semiconductor Industry Association Shielding Integrity Services Inc. Sigma Software LLC Silicon Valley Bank Silicon Valley Leadership Group Simulations Plus, Inc. SK hynix memory solutions America Slack Technologies SLK America, Inc.
Society for Human Resource Management SolarEdge Technologies
Solution BI US Corp.
Sony Corporation of America
SPACO-Inc
Spectrum Health System
Square
Starburst Accelerator LLC
Sterling Software, Inc.
Stoll America Knitting Machinery, Inc.
Sunsong North America, Inc.
TAG
Tamp Bay Tech
Taro Engineering LLC
TaskRabbit
TEAM Industries Inc.
Tech Association of South Carolina
Tech Birmingham
Tech Collective
Tech Council of Central Pennsylvania
Tech Rochester
Tech San Diego
Tech Titans
Tech:NYC
TechLauderdale
TechNet
TechNexus Venture Collaborative
Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) Technology Association of Iowa (TAI)
Technology Association of Louisville Kentucky (TALK) Technology Association of Oregon (TAO)
Technology Council of North Dakota
Technology Councils of America (TECNA)
TechPoint
Tekion
Texas BioMedical Research Institute
Texas Instruments
The Marskell Group, LLC
The Yes Platform, Inc.
TheraCare of New York Inc.
Thumbtack
Tillster, Inc.
Titan Data Group Inc.
Tomorrow Water
Top Notch Logworks Inc.
Tracker Corp
Tri Marine Fish Company, LLC
Trinity Health
Turbo Air, Inc.
Turo
Twitter
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U.S. Chamber of Commerce Utah Technology Council V Plus O Communications VEB Solutions, Inc. Venture Home Solar LLC VigiLanz Corporation VMWare Voss USA Inc. Waymo Webber, LLC (a Ferrovial company) West Coast Consulting Wi-Tronix, LLC
Wisconsin Technology Council (WTC) Woodbridge Group
Workday, Inc.
World Fresh Produce Inc.
Worldwide ERC
WorldWide HealthStaff Solutions Ltd. Xero
YOOBIC Inc.
Zillow
ZOLLER Inc
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Zymergen, Inc.
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[afacc123]

https://competeamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2020/05/324-Signatory-Business-Letter-to-President-and-Secretaries-Nonimmigrant-Visa-Facts-5-21-2020.pdf

[afacc123]

Pause on unskilled immigration would benefit America. In these tough times @USCIS should focus on skilled immigrants who bring value  to economy

[Jilchika]

Unfortunately most of the so called “skilled” immigrants are scrap and the original intent of H-1B is getting abused.

[Repo]

Ede maata future GC lu vachaka parents visa chesetappudu ayyo humanity lekunda families ni vidadeesthunnaru Ani antaru. 

Oka section ni aapali aa section visa lu Anni maku evvali ??? 

Indians ante jealous Ani thelusu including me but antha maake kavali Anni maake kavali unna vatini exploit chestham anedi e 1 year lo ardam ayyindi. 

Everyone thinking immigration means h1b ?? 

Adedo Ind h1 ne immigration la family based Edo free ga US vasthunnattu why thinking in that way ?? 

Anduke evari section vaallaki create chesaru but still Anni sections maake evvali immigration ante ne H1b other visa lu antha daily labor gaallu Ani Ind caste and no dignity of labor chupisthunnaru. 

[Repo]

3 hours ago, afacc123 said:

Pause on unskilled immigration would benefit America. In these tough times @USCIS should focus on skilled immigrants who bring value  to economy

How can you talk like that bro ?? 

Immigration ante skilled okkate Ani ekkadaina special ga mentioned ?? 

Do you know Asylum meaning ? Did you meet them personally ?? 

Vaallaki pause petti FB quota kuda EB quota Anni Ind ki evvali antav ? 

Immigration means economy Ani decide chesesava bro ?? 

[libraguy86]

Should have a level field not having quotas first come first serve basis skilled or unskilled. 

[Jilchika]

Even with employment EB quotas things were fine until early 2000s. It is only after the abuse started by desi consultancies, witch companies and F1 abuse via NPU, SVU things stared going bad. Ultimately it is our own greed and systematic abuse that lead to the current situation.