June 29, 2020
The Trump administration’s plan to suspend the issuance of H-1B and other temporary visas through the end of 2020 is a direct challenge to the business model that has made Silicon Valley and other U.S. technology centers successful. It is also a model that underpins the Bay Areas economic and technological leadership. The ability to attract the best trained and most creative people is a large part of the explanation for why its economy has excelled. While the short-term impacts of this new policy will be limited (the executive order does not apply to visa holders already in the country), restricting flows of talent to the U.S. will come at significant long-term cost to competitiveness and to Americans whether or not they work in tech. Sean Randolph, the Institute’s Senior Director wrote an article for Medium.com outlining the implications from this plan.