Indian tech staff on edge about Trump’s immigration coverage – DW – 03/26/2025 | EUROtoday

Immigrants within the United States, each authorized and unlawful, are on edge. The new Trump administration’s hardline immigration coverage has despatched shockwaves by communities.

Kabir, whose identify we have now modified on his request, is an engineer from India working at a Silicon Valley startup. He says dropping his job can be a nightmare for him as a result of he’s presently within the US on a so-called H-1B visa for which he wants an employer sponsor who should file a petition with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). He can’t keep with out employment, he informed DW, which is why he is involved about what new insurance policies could be put in place.

“We invest in this country, contribute to it, yet securing a work visa remains a struggle. From day one, we get just 90 days of unemployment, you need to find a new job or leave. That pressure is always there,” mentioned Kabir.

A so-called Green Card would give him everlasting residency and permit him to work and dwell in US indefinitely But with one million candidates forward of him, his official estimated wait time for a Green Card is 108 years, he added.

H-1B staff in limbo

Like many different H-1B visa holders, Kabir’s future within the US feels unsure. Created in 1990, the H-1B visa program for expert international staff was designed to fill gaps within the labor market. The preliminary length of a short lived visa is normally three years, which might then be prolonged for an extra three years.

But in line with specialists, it is failing to work as meant. The program is being misused by employers to “substitute, compete against, undercut and undermine” native staff on the US labor market, says Ron Hira, an affiliate professor at Howard University in Washington D.C., who research labor points.

Because these H-1B staff are short-term and tied to their employers, they don’t have the identical rights as US staff. They are much less more likely to say “no” to their bosses as a result of “losing their job means losing their visa,” Hira informed DW. The employer controls their authorized standing, which makes them extremely susceptible.

Green Card vs. H-1B visa: Silicon Valley’s ‘darkish secret’

Vivek Wadhwa, CEO of Vionix Biosciences — a Silicon Valley life sciences firm — calls this an “industry loophole” and Silicon Valley’s “dark secret.”

The California know-how hub is particularly powered by international expert staff, but tech giants desire H-1B visa holders over Green Card candidates.

“If you run a big technology company, you’d rather have stable employees who can’t easily leave and who earn lower salaries. It’s an economic decision,” mentioned Wadhwa.

Ironically, lots of Silicon Valley’s greatest gamers are immigrants themselves. Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, for instance, are of Indian descent. Jensen Huang, who constructed Nvidia, is from Taiwan. The founder and CEO of videoconferencing firm Zoom Eric Yuan is from China. And, in fact, South African billionaire Elon Musk, the person behind SpaceX and Tesla.

Silicon Valley’s foyer

As Big Tech is among the many greatest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa program, some argue that this is the reason Silicon Valley’s strongest executives have grown near Trump backing his second presidential marketing campaign financially.

Tech business leaders will “definitely influence Trump´s policy decisions on H-1B,” says the CEO of the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce, Harbir Kaur Bhatia.

Unlike throughout his first presidency, when Trump was advocating for “Buy American, Hire American” and in opposition to H-1B visas, he has now softened his place and expressed assist for expert immigration, Bhatia informed DW.

Indian tech migration might take successful

The doubtless shift in visa coverage is especially essential for Indian professionals. They make up greater than 70% of all H-1B visa holders however are additionally grappling with its most urgent flaws.

Also, Indian nationals are sometimes the goal of hatred and assaults for allegedly taking jobs away from Americans and undercutting wages.

Ron Hira says India has a powerful curiosity in preserving the H-1B program not solely as a result of staff ship massive remittances residence, but additionally as a result of Indian IT providers corporations rely closely on H-1B visas to run their outsourcing enterprise.

“It’s a big cash cow for the country,” Hira added which is why Indian corporations are against a reform that would scale back their earnings.

Tired of the system and its uncertainty, many expert immigrants are however selecting to return to India and construct their very own corporations. Vivek Wadhwa predicts that inside the subsequent 5 to 10 years, India may have a number of Silicon Valleys. He even has already relocated his personal firm there.

If the Trump administration makes the state of affairs worse for expert international staff, says Wadhwa, “this immigration debate is going to blow up in America’s face,” and lots of of them will take their expertise and innovation elsewhere.

Edited by: Uwe Hessler