Business and the Workforce

What role do immigrants play in American business and the American workforce? Immigrants work in a range of skilled positions in the U.S. and start businesses that boost the American economy. Learn more about immigrant entrepreneurship and workforce participation.

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  • Blog

Why The Government’s Wage Data is Inadequate in Determining Fair Wages for U.S. and Foreign Workers

December 14, 2017

U.S. employers looking to hire foreign workers must often meet a number of preconditions. Those employers who want to hire workers through the H-1B temporary visa category (for “specialty...

  • Blog

Immigrants and Their Children Founded More Than Two-Fifths of All Fortune 500 Companies

December 7, 2017

The modern U.S. economy owes much of its success to the contributions of immigrants and their children. Among these contributions, it would be difficult to overstate the value of entrepreneurship...

  • Blog

Judge Rules That Foreign Entrepreneurs Can Come to the United States to Grow Their Businesses

December 1, 2017

Foreign entrepreneurs who want to build innovative companies in the United States received good news on Friday, when federal judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court ruled in favor of a...

  • Blog

How Immigrants Helped Boost American Jobs in the Midwest

November 7, 2017

At a time when anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies seem to be growing, immigrants in the United States continue to do what they have done for over a century—bring unique and vital experiences to...

  • Blog

New USCIS Policy Creates Obstacles for Employers and Foreign Workers

October 26, 2017

In a major reversal of longstanding policy, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has created new and unnecessary hurdles for employers and foreign employees temporarily working in the...

  • Blog

Immigrants and Refugees Are Among America’s 2017 Nobel Prize Winners

October 19, 2017

The Nobel Prizes, awarded annually in recognition of extraordinary achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace, have once again been won by Americans who came...

  • Blog

Attacks on Exchange Visitor Program Hurts American Businesses

October 16, 2017

Among the laundry list of proposed restrictions and other attacks on immigration, the Trump administration is reportedly considering cuts to the Exchange Visitor Program (EVP) and therefore...

  • Blog

Foreign Entrepreneurs Would Have Benefited From This Rule—The Trump Administration Wants to Rescind It, So We Sued

September 19, 2017

The Trump administration has repeatedly promised to create jobs in the United States, and yet it has delayed a policy that would have fostered the growth of innovative companies and guaranteed...

  • Blog

USCIS Adds Extra Hurdles for Legally Residing Immigrants

August 29, 2017

The Trump administration continued its attack on legal immigration this month, announcing that it will start requiring additional in-person interviews for tens of thousands of individuals who have...

  • Blog

Farmers Struggle to Find Labor, Threatening Americans’ Food Supply and Prices

August 14, 2017

America’s farmers have been acutely aware of the consequences of restrictive immigration policies for some time. When migration levels drop or restrictive policies drive migrants out of the state...

  • Press Release

American Immigration Council Joins President-Elect Joe Biden in Making a Fair and Welcoming Immigration System

November 7, 2020
Joseph R. Biden has been elected to serve as the 46th president of the United States. In the months ahead, we look forward to working with the Biden-Harris administration to advance a pro-immigration agenda that respects the dignity of all people.
  • Blog

Three New Lawsuits Challenge Trump’s H-1B Worker Restrictions

October 23, 2020

Three new lawsuits have been filed challenging the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new rules impacting the H-1B visa category, with one also challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new...

  • Press Release

Foreign Student Admission Restrictions Hurt America’s Leadership in Innovation

October 22, 2020
The proposal would negatively impact American colleges and universities and foreign students seeking a higher education degree in the United States and have long-term effects for the legal immigration system.
  • Blog

How Proposed Changes to ‘Duration of Status’ Rules Will Impact Students and Exchange Visitors

October 20, 2020

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has published a proposed rule that will make it more difficult for individuals applying for admission in a J-1 exchange visitor or F-1 student visa...

  • Advocacy

Comment on DHS Proposed Rule to Drastically Expand the Definition and Collection of Biometrics

October 13, 2020
The American Immigration Council, the Immigration Defense Clinic at Colorado Law, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, submitted a comment in opposition to the Department of Homeland Security proposed rule on the "Collection and Use of Biometrics by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services."
  • Blog

Restrictions on Foreign Workers Will Hurt America’s Recovery From COVID-19

October 8, 2020

The Trump administration issued two rules October 8 that, if not overturned, will further restrict legal immigration. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued the first rule, which only...

  • Advocacy

Summary of Proposed Changes to Student and Exchange Visitor Admissions Process by DHS

October 6, 2020

This document provides a summary of the Department of Homeland Security's September 25, 2020, Proposed Rule, "...

  • Blog

Federal Judge Limits Trump Administration’s Foreign Worker Ban

October 2, 2020

On October 1, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop enforcing parts of a presidential proclamation that banned many foreign workers from entering the United States. The court...

  • Blog

How Trump’s COVID-19 Immigration Ban Has Impacted Family-Based Immigration

October 1, 2020

The Trump administration is successfully using the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to alter the U.S. system of legal immigration. New government data makes clear that these changes will...

  • Special Report

The Impact of COVID-19 on Noncitizens and Across the U.S. Immigration System

Publication Date: 
September 30, 2020
This report identifies disruptions throughout the immigration system because of the COVID-19 pandemic and makes recommendations for improvements to the federal government’s response.

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