Immigrant Tech Workers Scrambling To Secure Visas Ahead Of Trump’s Inauguration
S ilicon Valley immigration attorney Sophie Alcorn has been getting calls since Donald Trump became the Republican candidate earlier this year, but on Wednesday, after he won the presidential election, the outreach exploded. She and her team at Alcorn Immigration Law fielded hundreds of inquiries from existing and potential clients by phone, email and social media, many from tech workers worried about their H-1B visas, which are granted to highly-skilled foreign-born workers.
“I think any immigrant is afraid of Trump,” she said. “People are concerned about, Can they continue to live in the United States? How volatile is their immigration status? How predictable will their renewals be? [In his first term] Trump had the extreme vetting policy.”
The result post-election: Foreign-born workers who can complete their immigration paperwork before year end are eager to do so, Alcorn said. With premium processing, they may be able get a response from the government in two weeks—and have their visa settled before Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
During the campaign Trump pledged to conduct a mass deportation of millions of immigrants living in the United States without authorization; there are more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. While Trump has said that he’s not opposed to legal immigration, in his first term he cut back on it, including by banning travel from countries with majority Muslim populations.
A big unknown for tech workers this time is whether Trump’s ties to Silicon Valley through vice president-elect JD Vance and billionaire supporter Elon Musk will shield them from his anti-immigrant push.
“People are asking what’s going to change, but the level of anxiety is not fever-pitched,” said Elizabeth Goss, an immigration attorney in Boston, who recalled the paranoia after the ban in........
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