During the campaign, President Donald Trump’s comments on work visas for skilled workers had leaders of the technology industry sweating. They worried about sweeping changes to the H-1B visa program, which companies like Microsoft and Google use to bring in people with specialized skills from other countries.
But so far, the president has spared the H-1B, choosing instead to review the program in the hopes of curbing abuse from so-called “outsourcing firms.” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he welcomes the review in an interview with on American Public Media’s “Make Me Smart” podcast last week, with Marketplace senior tech correspondent Molly Wood.
“I think the H-1B review is … a good thing because I think every country should look at their immigration policy and in this case, it’s about American competitiveness,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s about high-skill labor and a review that says there is the right use of [the H-1B] and misuses of it and we promote more the right uses of it, all the better for American competitiveness. At least at Microsoft, when we think about H-1B, it’s mostly about high-skilled labor that allows us, an American company, to be globally competitive.”
Trump’s plan, titled “Buy American, Hire American,” asks the Departments of Labor, Justice, Homeland Security, and State to conduct a full review and analysis of the program, looking for instances of fraud and abuse. The review could lead to administrative changes to how the visas are allocated, like axing the lottery in favor of a merit-based system that would give priority to the highest-paid or most educated applicants. The review may also lead to administrative changes, like increasing fees for processing applications or adjusting the salary requirements of applicants.
The review is targeted at what officials call “outsourcing firms,” companies that flood the H-1B lottery system with as many applications as possible, bringing in a higher percentage of workers and contracting their services out to other companies. Axios notes that the process could actually free up more work visas for tech companies like Microsoft, if it has its intended effect.
During a December meeting between Trump and key members of the tech community, Nadella reportedly brought up H-1B visas and challenges tech companies have in bringing in skilled talent. Trump responded, “Let’s fix that.”
But the seemingly amicable relationship between the two leaders was strained by Trump’s temporary travel bans, which spun out in court.
“As an immigrant and as a CEO, I’ve both experienced and seen the positive impact that immigration has on our company, for the country, and for the world,” Nadella wrote in a post on LinkedIn after Trump issued the executive order. “We will continue to advocate on this important topic.”
Perhaps Microsoft’s advocacy helped to shape the H-1B executive order that’s on the table — a far more measured proposal than a leaked draft executive order that pledged sweeping changes to the program.
“I’m a product of two things that I think are great about the United States,” Nadella said during the podcast interview. “One is American technology reaching me where I was growing up and to be able to dream the American dream and then the enlightened immigration policy letting me live that dream.”
Nadella also alluded to other ways Microsoft is working with the federal government to achieve its technology-related goals during the interview.
“We’re obviously in touch with the administration on a variety of different fronts and we welcome their initiatives around infrastructure and modernizing the government,” he said. “We definitely have a point of view on how we can help and we look forward to engaging … It’s not just about infrastructure in the physical sense. The digital infrastructure can be a significant part.”
If that sounds familiar, it’s because modernizing the government’s digital infrastructure is the core goal of Trump’s new American Technology Council. It’s a passion project of the president’s senior advisor Jared Kushner, and it will be led by former Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell. The plan is to have leaders of the technology industry advise the council though the administration hasn’t released details about who will sit at the table. Given his comments and Microsoft’s relationship with the government, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a seat saved for Nadella.
Listen to the full podcast interview here.
