America's economic recovery may be delayed: Tech giants oppose Trump's H1B visa suspension

As US President Donald Trump suspended employment visas to restrict immigrant workers in the country, US tech giants like Google and Apple are likely to get affected the most due to the decision. 

Criticising Trump’s move, Twitter Incorporation said, “This proclamation undermines America's greatest economic asset: its diversity. People from all over the world come here to join our labour force, pay taxes, and contribute to our global competitiveness on the world stage," Twitter Inc. stated.

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Microsoft president Brad Smith also opposed the decision adding that immigrants played an important role at this time of crisis.

An Amazon spokesperson said that preventing high skilled professionals from working in America and contributing to its economic recovery puts the country's global competitiveness at risk. Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai also expressed displeasure on the suspension of employment visas

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Indian firms to be impacted

Major Indian IT firms including TCS, Wipro, Infosys and HCL Technologies were top losers on the index after US President Donald Trump suspended employment visas to restrict immigrant workers in the country. As per experts, the move is likely to impact Indian IT companies as nearly 70 per cent of 85,000 visas issued each year goes to India. Employment visas such as H1-B and L1 are regularly issued by IT companies to hire Indian employees on contractual basis in America. TCS and Infosys contribute to 40 to 50 per cent of the H-1B visas, while Wipro and HCL Tech take up to 30-35 per cent.

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Trump suspends H-1B visas

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to suspend a number of foreign visas including H-1B, H-2B, certain H-4, H-L, and some H-J visas in order to 'preserve jobs for American citizens'.  Trump's move to temporarily ban visas aims to free up to 5,25,000 jobs for US citizens who have lost their jobs amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The order will keep out nonagricultural seasonal workers, individuals for cultural exchanges and managers, and other key employees of multinational corporations. However, it will keep food processing workers and healthcare workers from helping in the fight against coronavirus.

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(With inputs from ANI)