Tech visa row lays bare tension between global and local

Tech visa row lays bare tension between global and local

Tech visa row lays bare tension between global and local
Sundar Pichai, the Indian-born CEO of Alphabet. (Reuters/File)
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A brouhaha on X over abuse of H-1B visas and Indian dominance of the tech sector’s top ranks in the US has made way for the next keyboard kerfuffle. While the furor lasted, however, it was an eye-opener in the sense that many people outside the US were hitherto unaware of the average Joe’s reaction to the ascent in recent years of foreign-born Silicon Valley tech executives with unfamiliar names like “Satya,” “Huang,” “Sundar,” “Dara” and “Arvind.”
What stood out among other revelations was the vast gulf between how two groups of Americans perceive the phenomenon: leaders of advanced industries that power US economic growth and development, and those faceless (mostly anonymous) citizens with far more modest backgrounds. It is now abundantly clear that there exists deep resentment at the outsized presence in the C-suite of foreign-born engineers, especially those of Indian origin, among the latter group, who feel they were not consulted by the political establishment that allowed this to happen.
In an ideal world, no country that offers a pathway to citizenship should be so heavily dependent on foreign-born talent to fill jobs that require advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. But as Kurt Campbell, a US deputy secretary of state, told the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in June last year, not enough Americans were studying STEM subjects, so the country needed to recruit more international students for those fields.
“I believe that the largest increase that we need to see going forward would be much larger numbers of Indian students that come to study in American universities in a range of technology and other fields,” he said, underlining the fact that India was an increasingly important US security partner, in addition to being a source of highly skilled immigrants.
One poll of economists that surfaced during the H-1B visa abuse rumpus showed that 0 percent of them disagreed with the statement that “allowing US-based employers to hire many more immigrants with advanced degrees in science or engineering would raise per capita income in the US over time.”
Left largely undiscussed, though, are concerns that the ongoing influx of foreign tech workers will add to a demographic shift over the long term, plus further strain employment opportunities for local STEM graduates, who might flock to less prestigious occupations in search of an escape from competition and deprive younger generations of tech role models within the family and community.
And the competition is stiff, to put it mildly. As Sam Peak, an advocate for US economic innovation, pointed out in a post on X, “H-1Bs aren’t just among the best and brightest in the world; they raise children who are also the best and brightest. Children who had a parent on an H-1B visa represented 30 out of 40 finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search, one of the most prestigious science competitions for high schoolers in the US.”

Over-reliance on foreign talent can become a vulnerability.

Arnab Neil Sengupta

Given the lopsided situation, dependence on external talent may suppress wages in certain tech sectors, making it harder for domestic professionals to secure competitive salaries. Additionally, a perceived propensity of US tech companies for hiring foreign talent — widely regarded as more skilled or cost-effective — may inadvertently limit career advancement prospects for local employees, stirring resentment and workplace tension.
That said, the indispensability of Chinese and Indian engineers to US innovation leadership is undeniable. According to a Manhattan Institute “issue brief” of November 2023, individuals of Chinese and Indian ethnic origin filed over 22 percent of all patents in the US in 2019 despite constituting about a mere 3.3 percent of the population. “Highly skilled Chinese and Indian immigrants are most harmed by immigrant visa caps, which is concerning because these are the two most innovative ethnic groups in the United States,” the brief said.
A serious downside of over-reliance on foreign talent, however, is that it can become a structural vulnerability over time. When a large nation like the US views importing of skilled professionals as financially more viable than investing in robust local STEM education systems, it runs the risk of creating long-term dependencies. Sudden shifts in immigration policies or global geopolitics can disrupt access to this talent pool, leaving industries exposed to potential talent shortages and operational disruptions.
National security concerns add another layer of complexity. Governments are often wary of foreign-born professionals accessing sensitive tech sectors, raising fears of espionage or unauthorized data sharing. Cases of visa fraud and intellectual property theft have only amplified these anxieties, underscoring the need for balanced policies that address both innovation imperatives and security risks.
Chinese students have historically made up the largest foreign student body in the US, totaling nearly 290,000 in the 2022/23 academic year. But some in US academia and civil society now believe that deteriorating bilateral relations and concerns about theft of US expertise have hurt scientific cooperation and exposed Chinese students in US universities to unwarranted suspicion.
In fact, when Campbell, the senior State Department official, identified India as the preferred source to make up for the shortage of American science students, he did not try to put too fine a point on it, saying: “I would like to see more Chinese students coming to the United States to study humanities and social sciences, not particle physics.”
Integration challenges also pose practical problems. Cultural and language barriers can create friction within teams, affecting cohesion and collaboration. Foreign-born employees might also face systemic discrimination or biases, limiting their ability to fully contribute and thrive in their roles. These social factors could potentially detract from the intended benefits of a globally diverse workforce, thereby hurting productivity and innovation.
Finally, the migration of the smartest and most ambitious science students to the US is undoubtedly a zero-sum game. For China and India, whether they admit it or not, the loss of STEM talent through the decades has been a costly and irreversible “brain drain.” Granted, had these talents stayed back in their home countries, they would not have produced as many patents as they did in the US. As Peak, the innovation advocate, noted on X: “Youth from developing countries who score the same in the International Mathematical Olympiad are 16 percent less likely to get a math Ph.D. and have 57 percent fewer research citations than their competitors living in a developed country.”
Nevertheless, with top minds migrating to wealthier and well-governed economies in pursuit of better opportunities, their home countries are left to deal with a slowdown in local innovation and a scarcity of skilled professionals. This brain drain creates a vicious cycle whereby developing or emerging economies, often led by autocratic or populist political leaders, struggle to build competitive tech sectors, further widening the global innovation gap.
Setting aside the xenophobic rhetoric of America’s so-called woke right, the visa abuse hullabaloo encapsulated the tension between globalization and national priorities. This is a tension that frequently plays out in the boardrooms of tech giants, STEM classrooms and online platforms such as X. Striking a sustainable balance between attracting top global talent and spurring domestic innovation is not just a policy choice; it is a necessity for ensuring long-term resilience, social cohesion, and continued technological leadership in an increasingly competitive world.

*Arnab Neil Sengupta is a senior editor at Arab News. X: @arnabnsg

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point of view