More than 100 technology start-ups have urged the United States President Donald Trump to not issue an executive order against the H-1B visas.
The start-ups have argued said that any adverse directive on the visas will do "irreversible harm" on the start-up community and on America's overall capability to compete on a global platform.
'Trump's new orders could stop the abuse of H1-B visa program', says Silicon Valley entrepreneur
The US H1-B visa is a non-immigrant visa, which allows firms to hire foreign workers in specialised occupations. The H-1B and L1 work visas are majorly used by Indian IT professionals. Currently, the cap on H1B visas stands at 65,000, of which 25,000-35,000 are issued to Indian nationals.
"While we recognise the importance of promoting national security and protecting the interests of American workers, we strongly believe the existing and proposed executive orders will not accomplish these goals and in fact, could undermine our ability to found and grow new companies that create jobs here in the US," the start-ups said in an open letter to Trump, PTI reported.
The effort, which was headed by two advocacy groups, Engine and National Venture Capital Association, was made to urge the US President to reconsider his prospective actions on the specialised visas and the impact it could have on America's future economy.
The start-ups, in the letter, mentioned their concerns over Trump's recent executive orders barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries to enter the United States. The letter also mentioned the recently-leaked draft of the next executive order on the probable rollback of the worker visa and parole programmes. The American start-ups believe that these actions by the Trump administration are both morally and economically misguided.
"The order calls for the evaluation and rolling back of various worker visa and parole programmes, and is based on the concerning and misguided presumption that visa programs are harmful to American workers and the broader economy," the letter addressed to Trump said.
"In reality, it is well-established that immigrant workers at all skill levels make a positive impact on the U.S. economy," the letter said.
It also cited a research which stated that for every 100 immigrants with advanced degrees in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields, an additional 86 jobs are created among US nationals.
H1-B visa: More than 100 tech start ups urge US President Donald Trump against executive order
