Trump's executive order on visas for foreign workers cost $100 billion: Report

Washington DC: President Donald Trump's executive order restricting entry of skilled foreign workers into the US, mainly on H-1B and L-1 visas, has resulted in an estimated loss of USD 100 billion to companies and will have lasting negative impacts on firms here, according to a prominent American think-tank.

The H-1B visa, most sought-after among Indian IT professionals, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. L-1 visa is for internal company transfers. The executive order signed by Trump on June 22, that had temporarily banned issuing fresh H-1B and L-1 visas till December 31, caused a negative impact to the valuation of Fortune 500 firms equivalent to over USD 100 billion in losses, Brookings Institute said in a report released this week.

According to estimates, the order barred the entrance of nearly 200,000 foreign workers and their dependents, said the report co-authored by Prithwiraj Choudhury, Indian-American Lumry Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School; Dany Bahasr from Brookings and Britta Glennon from the University of Pennsylvania.

Noting that the nonimmigrant visas that were targeted are used by companies to hire or transfer high-skilled immigrants, the report said there was overwhelming evidence documenting that skilled immigration improves firm outcomes such as profits, productivity, production expansion, innovation, and investment.