Facebook could be the most vulnerable tech giant to President Trump’s expected crackdown on guest worker visas, according to analysis of U.S. Labor Department filings by Reuters. If Congress or Trump decides to make the H-1B program more restrictive, it could cause some serious problems for the tech giant.
Why is Facebook the most vulnerable to visa changes?
In 2016, more than 15% of Facebook’s U.S. employees used a temporary work visa, giving the tech giant a legal classification as an H-1B “dependent” company. This is higher than Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google and Amazon, notes Fortune.
Both Attorney General nominee Senator Jeff Sessions and Trump have opposed the program in its current form. According to a draft executive order seen by Reuters, they are open to reforming the program to make sure the beneficiaries of the program are the brightest and the best. Reuters couldn’t confirm the authenticity of the draft immediately.
So far, the Trump administration has not proposed any new rules that would target businesses or companies with the H-1B “dependent” classification. However, the fact that Facebook is alone among large tech companies which fall into that category suggests that it is the most vulnerable to any changes in the H-1B visa policy.
H-1B visas are for foreign nationals in “specialty” occupations that mostly require higher education. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), this includes computer programmers, scientists, and engineers, but it is not limited to them.
As of now, there has been no comment from the social networking site or the Trump administration on the matter. However, on Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that the President will target H-1B visas as part of larger immigration reform through Congressional action and executive orders, notes Fortune. Spicer gave no further details.
Facebook asks users if it is good for the world
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has long characterized the social network as a force for good. However, last year’s “filter bubbles” and “fake news” appear to have left the company a lot less self-assured. A latest indication that the tech giant may be experiencing an existential crisis comes from the company itself.
Recently, it has been asking its users whether they think “Facebook is good for the world.” The social network asks users to agree, disagree, strongly agree or strongly disagree, according to Quartz.
