New visa rules called a threat to US tech

The Trump administration's increased restrictions and scrutiny on Chinese students and workers in STEM areas pose a critical supply issue to the US tech workforce, which relies on foreign-born talent, according to tech industry experts.

The H-1B visa, a program for highly skilled workers whom many Silicon Valley companies depend on, has become an administration target.

The government's latest move against the H-1B visa program is a major rule change unveiled on Tuesday, including requiring employers to pay higher wages, shortening the visa's validity to one year from the current three years, and strengthening worksite investigation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Ken Cuccinelli, the second-in-command at DHS, said the latest changes will affect "over one-third" of all H-1B visa petitioners.  This year, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services received nearly 275,000 registrations for the H-1B program, which is subject to an 85,000 cap.

In the past few years, the administration has stepped up visa restrictions on Chinese students over concerns about "intelligence theft" and further cracked down on the H-1B visa program for highly skilled foreign workers to "protect Americans".

The measures, such as shortening visa validity and barring entry or issuance of visas for suspected military links, have made it harder for Chinese students, especially STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduates to study in the US.

"Chinese students are a tremendous resource for American research and innovation. They bring a diverse perspective and unique background when collaborating with domestic students and colleagues," said Peter Leroe-Muñoz, general counsel and vice-president of tech and innovation policy at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, whose organization represents nearly 400 Silicon Valley's companies.

Many of the students become permanent US workers, and Chinese STEM workers are 17 percent of all tech workers in Silicon Valley, he said.

"This mixing of ideas inspires creative thinking and innovative approaches within the tech and business fields," he told China Daily. The government's actions "deprive American companies from these talented workers" and moreover, the restriction on Chinese students, based on their country of origin, is "antithetical to America's cherished values of inclusivity and openness", he added.

Foreign talent is "super critical", because "without it we cannot design or run our fabs", said Jimmy Goodrich, vice-president for global policy at Semiconductor Industry Association.

Among the STEM and electrical engineering graduates in the US, more than 50 percent are foreign born, according to Goodrich. "So you have a supply issue in the United States, where American-born students simply are less interested in STEM degrees," he said.

For material science, chemistry, or electrical engineering students, they go to work for companies like Amazon and Google, because it's more interesting to them than working in a fab (chip-fabrication plant), he said.

"We need to be able to meet those open job requirements with talented people from overseas, and Chinese make up a huge portion of that student population," he noted. "They're incredibly brilliant. The vast majority want to continue to work here, and American innovation benefits from that at the same time."

A report by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation found the proportion of international PhD-level students on temporary visas to study STEM subjects in the US has doubled in 30 years. Those students are much more likely than domestic students to major in and graduate with STEM-related doctoral degrees and to pursue careers in high-tech firms.

Source countries for the 464,000 foreign-born holders of science and engineering doctorates were somewhat more concentrated, with China providing the highest proportion, 22 percent, according to the National Science Board's Science and Engineering Indicators 2018.

A key success factor of the US tech competitiveness is attracting global talent, but the Trump administration's "xenophobia" and "nativism" are a direct attack on the principles of openness and academic freedom, said Evan Low, a California state Assembly member who represents the Silicon Valley.

He is deeply concerned about a bill introduced by Republican senators Tom Cotton and Marsha Blackburn in May, which would prohibit Chinese nationals from receiving visas to the US for graduate or post-graduate studies in STEM fields.

"If it became law, almost all the Chinese students would be barred from studying in the US. It would become the modern version of the Chinese Exclusion Act, having extremely adverse and far-reaching impact on Chinese students and the Chinese American community," said Low.