Apple, Google, India hail US President Joe Biden's immigration reforms
By Team Newsable | First Published Jan 23, 2021, 2:12 PM ISTUS IT sector and business groups, including technology giants Google and Apple, have applauded President Joe Biden's steps to initiate immigration reforms, underlining that the move would boost American economy, create jobs and attract talent from across the world.
US IT sector and business groups, including technology giants Google and Apple, have applauded President Joe Biden's steps to initiate immigration reforms, underlining that the move would boost American economy, create jobs and attract and retain the best talent from across the world.
Apple CEO Tim Cook welcomed US President Joe Biden's "commitment to pursuing comprehensive immigration reform that reflects the American values of justice, fairness and dignity".
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In a statement late Wednesday, Tim Cook said, "This effort will strengthen American communities and the pathways to opportunity this country has long fostered."
Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a tweet on Thursday applauded President Biden's quick action on COVID relief, Paris climate accord and immigration reform.
"Google has supported action on these important issues & we look forward to working with the new administration to help the US recover from the pandemic + grow our economy, said Sundar Pichai.
US tech companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft employ a huge number of IT professionals from countries like India and China.
On day one of his presidency on Wednesday, President Biden sent a comprehensive immigration bill to Congress which proposes major overhauls to the system, including granting legal status and a path to citizenship to tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants and other groups and reduce the time that family members must wait outside the US for green cards.
Called the US Citizenship Act of 2021, the legislation modernises the immigration system, and also proposes to eliminate the per country cap for employment-based green cards, a move that would benefit thousands of Indian IT professionals whose current wait period for legal permanent residency runs into several decades.
Outgoing US president Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies were highly restrictive, putting substantial administrative pressure on Indian IT firms which are the largest users of H-1B and L-1 work visas. In June, he had suspended the issuance of H-1B and L-1 visas till December, and then a fortnight ago, he extended this till March.
(With inputs from agency)
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