Dive Brief:
- Demand for foreign national workers remains high, despite stricter federal immigration policies, a new Envoy study shows. The majority of companies surveyed (70%) said that sourcing foreign national employees is important to their talent acquisition strategy, and 59% said they expect their foreign national headcount to increase during the next year.
- Employers are providing perks specifically designed to attract foreign national employees, the report says. They range from housing and relocation expenses to help with travel and cultural assimilation.
- Of those companies surveyed, 98% said they've changed their green card policy in the last year. Thirty-seven percent are sponsoring more green cards, 31% are sponsoring them sooner, 24% are currently sponsoring them and 16% are sponsoring fewer green cards.
Dive Insight:
Despite the Trump administration's "hire American" policy and hard-line view on immigration generally, employers aren't giving up on hiring immigrant workers. Some businesses took a hit last year because of a dearth of visas, and they're pushing for Congress to take action to ensure that doesn't happen again.
The demand for highly skilled workers, especially those in the STEM fields, also remains high, but it doesn't look as though the administration, with its normally pro-business stance, is going to relax its position any time soon. Additionally, the petition process for those visas has changed and the filing date for the second half of the year, April 2, is fast approaching.
Employers hoping to hire foreign nationals will have to plan ahead, and ensure they understand all the changes afoot.
