Although the Biden administration reversed many Trump-era immigration restrictions, many vestiges of his America First stance remain in place. One that remains is the continued limitation on the issuance of H-1B visas. Companies continue to face additional fees to pursue H1-B petitions for workers which are already arguably prohibitively expensive for many companies. However, these restrictions go beyond just a financial deterrence for hiring companies. These increased restrictions on a visa that only lasts three years sends a message to high-skilled international workers that they are unwelcome in the U.S. This message has been received particularly strongly by prospective H1-B visa workers - foreign students who come to our universities from around the world.
One example of such an effect is the restrictions placed on H-1B nonimmigrant skilled workers who often work in the IT industry. The Trump administration attempted to increase prevailing wage levels for H-1B jobs and make it more difficult for companies to hire foreign professionals. The increase would have especially made it more difficult for entry level professional jobs that are usually offered to foreign students immediately after their graduation from our universities. Additionally, there were entry restrictions imposed on H-1B workers due to COVID-19. The continued high expenses paid by companies that pursued H1-B petitions for workers have not been helpful either. These restrictions go beyond just a financial deterrence for hiring companies; they send a clear message to high-skilled international workers that they are unwelcome in the U.S.
Over the past five years, new international student enrollment in the U.S. has dropped around 11%. While the U.S. enrollment has been moving downward, other countries have worked hard to attract foreign students to their campuses by implementing more favorable immigration policies. One of these countries is Canada, a country where foreign graduates can easily find employment and gain permanent residency. Similarly, other countries are making efforts to attract high-skilled workers. Great Britain, for instance, has announced new specialty visas designed to attract highly skilled workers by making permanent residency much easier
The U.S. does not only miss out on high-skilled workers, but also sees a drop on one of the nation's largest service exports - higher education. Higher Education generated 35 billion dollars in 2015 for the US economy, and the value of education exports today is around 50 billion dollars. An 11% decrease means that nearly 5.5 billion dollars have been lost in education related revenue each year. This loss is important as international students subsidize the cost of education for native born students. Foreign students are generally ineligible for any financial aid, and as a result, pay full tuition which is much higher than native born students pay for the same academic programs. Especially in public universities, those dollars earned from international students help those universities award scholarships to U.S. students, fund research projects, pay towards faculty salary increases, and make up for the shortage of higher education funding allocated by state legislatures.
The decreased enrollment also causes revenue and job losses. International students contribute millions of dollars and thousands of jobs to our economy, through spending living-related costs in local economies, for example in restaurants surrounding college campuses. In 2018-2019, foreign students contributed $6.8 billion to California’s economy while supporting 74,814 jobs. In New York, they contributed about $5.3 billion and supported 59,586 jobs, and in Massachusetts, about $3.2 billion and 38,799 jobs. If the U.S cannot quickly change its image about immigration and ease the restrictions concerning skilled foreign workers, all of these jobs and dollars are at risk of leaving the U.S economy permanently.
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DISCLAIMER: This Article is for informational purposes only and may not be used in the place of legal advice.