Trump's immigration restrictions would have kept me and other tech founders from coming to America
By Alfred Chuang for CNN Business Perspectives
My dream as a child growing up in Hong Kong was to study in America, but my initial F1 student visa was rejected. The immigration officer asked me a trick question: Would I stay in the US and get practice experience after my studies? I said yes.
The immigration officer told me there was no need to ever apply again. I thought my journey in the United States was over before it even began. But I persisted and kept applying, and on August 28, 1979, two years after the immigration officer posed that question, I finally received my student visa.
Upon graduating with a master's in computer science at University of California, Davis, I was fortunate to land my dream job in Silicon Valley at Sun Microsystems, the 'Google' of its time. The company helped me apply for my H1-B visa and sponsored my green card. Through this experience, I eventually became a citizen of the United States.
Unfortunately, many others won't be as lucky. The Trump administration has implemented new restrictions on temporary work visas -- like the H1-B for workers in specialty occupations that helped kickstart my career here in the US, as well as the L-1 used for intracompany transfers and the J-1 used for cultural and educational exchange visitors -- until the end of this year. Even H-4 visas for spouses will be restricted this year, meaning international workers will have to wait even longer for their families to join them. While the restrictions are expected to be lifted at the end of the year, they will have long-lasting implications for innovation in our country.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-s-immigration-restrictions-would-have-kept-me-and-other-tech-founders-from-coming-to-america-opinion/ar-BB183FMK?li=BBnbklE&ocid=DELLDHP
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