Pichai, Silicon Valley React Strongly Against Trump's Visa Order
Trump has halted issuance of visas in key categories till end of the year.
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Silicon Valley has reacted strongly to US President Donald Trump's decision to halt access to several employment-based visas which is expected to affect thousands of people seeking to work in the US.
The technology industry has said that this move will prove terrible for the economy.
Companies like Amazon Inc., Twitter Inc. and Alphabet/Google have reacted to the news.
While Amazon and Twitter called the move "short-sighted", Alphabet and Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, took to Twitter to express his "disappointment".
"Immigration has contributed immensely to America’s economic success, making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today. Disappointed by today’s proclamation - we’ll continue to stand with immigrants and work to expand opportunity for all", said Pichai in the tweet.
Trump's order freezes new H1-B and H-4 visas which is usually used by technology workers and their families, L visas which are used for intracompany transfers and most J visas which are issued to those looking for work- and study-abroad programmes. This order is valid till the end of the year.
The US government will also not be issuing any more green cards till the end of the year.
"Under the extraordinary circumstances of the economic contraction resulting from the Covid-19 outbreak, certain nonimmigrant visa programs authorising such employment pose an unusual threat to the employment of American workers," said Trump in the order.
"We have plenty of people looking for jobs. I think it's going to make a lot of people very happy. And it's common sense," he further said in an interview to Fox News.
The US issued more than 900,000 visas in 2019 in the categories Trump has decided to freeze.
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