President Donald Trump is heading to Wisconsin on Tuesday to sign an executive order that seeks to tighten enforcement and
perhaps reform a visa program that allows companies to hire highly skilled workers.
Reports out of
Washington said Trump planned to sign an order called “Buy American, Hire American” at the Kenosha headquarters of tool
manufacturer Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE: SNA).
The order calls for strict enforcement laws governing entry into the United States of foreign workers "for the stated purpose of
creating higher wages and higher employment rates for workers in the United States," a senior official told reporters.
The order calls for a review of the H-1B visa program for the purposes of reforming it.
Tech Sector Relies On Guest Visas
Under the executive order, the departments of State, Justice, Labor and Homeland Security will take action to crack down on
"fraud and abuse," but falls far short
of Trump’s declaration to eliminate the H-1B altogether.
The H-1B is a temporary work permit that can last a maximum of six years. Companies in the technology sector in particular rely
on guest workers using the H-1B visas.
The government uses an annual lottery to award visas to about 65,000 workers, mostly computer programmers, engineers and
scientists.
According to myvisajobs.com's 2017 H1B Visa Report, here are some of the U.S. companies that relied on guest workers under the
visa program:
-
International Business Machines Corp.(NYSE: IBM) hired 12,381 workers last year at an average salary of $87,378.
- Deloitte Consulting, 7645 workers, $122,667.
-
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT),
5,029 workers, $129,610.
-
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ:
GOOGL), 4,897 workers, $129,997.
- Ernst & Young LLP, 4,625 workers, $98,722.
- UST Global, 3,170 workers, $69,819.
-
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), 2,622
workers, $121,850.
-
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), 1,765
workers, $111,283.
-
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) 1,647
workers, $107,428.
-
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) 1,167 workers
with an average salary of $145,683.
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Image Credit: Screengrab from By The White House (YouTube: President Trump Signs H.J. Res. 41) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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