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With executive orders on immigration already flying out of President Donald Trump’s White House, and more likely on their way, it’s not just individuals worried about their future.
Tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia depend on highly skilled foreign workers for a share of their workforce, and if Trump’s threatened changes to the U.S. visa system come through, those workers could evaporate in a hurry.
Amazon and Expedia have already voiced support — publicly and through legal declarations — a lawsuit brought by Washington state’s Attorney General against Trump for his temporary travel ban for people from seven Muslim-majority nations and all refugees.
Amazon still DOMINATES retail. Amazon accounted for 53% of all U.S. e-commerce sales growth in 2016. 18% is coming from electronics Amazon’s new digital assistant and even faster shipping are bringing the company deeper into our daily lives. Amazon revealed Tuesday that it plans to spend $1.49 billion to build its first worldwide air cargo hub and will help to sort packages and hold Amazon’s growing fleet of planes. Video provided by TheStreet
Microsoft officials provided background information to the Attorney General for the case and volunteered to testify in the case if necessary, according to a spokesperson.
Their interest in supporting the suit lies largely in the fear that immigration crackdowns or bans could create a speedbump — or outright roadblock — to bringing in high skilled foreign workers on H-1B visas.
Beyond the orders already signed, reports are now circulating of another draft order revamping the H-1B visa program to make it harder to hire foreign workers. The program already requires companies to recruit locally before hiring foreign workers, but the draft order would make this aspect in particular more stringent.
Here in the Northwest, a change in the H-1B visa program could hit home hard for tech companies. Tech companies use thousands of workers through the program each year, sometimes directly and sometimes through consulting firms that handle the paperwork and then subcontract the workers out.
We pulled the the numbers for Washington companies to see who the biggest users of highly skilled foreign workers are. The numbers, pulled from myvisajobs.com, represent labor condition applications (LCAs) filed with the Department of Labor, but don’t necessarily represent the actual number of visas that will be issued or renewed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The DOL usually certifies many more LCAs than the actual number of workers who wind up with visas, in fact.
The numbers in the slideshow above are for companies based in Washington or with major operations here. Click through to see which companies rely the most on foreign workers.
Daniel DeMay covers Seattle culture, business and transportation for seattlepi.com. He can be reached at 206-448-8362 or danieldemay@seattlepi.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Daniel_DeMay.
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