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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Publication Date: 
May 13, 2013
Innovation, Skilled Immigration, and H-1B Visas in U.S. Metropolitan Areas Although immigration policy is debated at the national level, its impact is most often felt in local and regional...
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March 1, 2013
In the spirit of bipartisan immigration reform, a geographically diverse contingent from both chambers of Congress have introduced legislation to strengthen high-skilled immigration and spur economic...
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March 15, 2012
The political discourse surrounding the incorporation of immigrants into the U.S. labor market tends to sort immigrant workers into two broad and mutually exclusive categories: high-skilled workers...
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March 4, 2012
With the U.S. economy in the midst of a prolonged slump, it’s hard to believe that any industry would actually benefit from having more workers. But that is precisely the case when it comes to those...
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January 25, 2012
There is widespread agreement across a number of key economic planning groups that immigrant entrepreneurs create jobs and strengthen the economy. Yet, the U.S. immigration system often forces out...
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December 8, 2011
When Americans picture an immigrant entrepreneur, they likely imagine a man who began the migration of his family, later bringing his wife over to become a volunteer assistant in the shop. This image...
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March 30, 2011
It might seem that persistently high unemployment rates over the past few years have rendered moot the debate over whether or not the United States really “needs” the highly skilled foreign workers...
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June 23, 2010
The 2000 Census found that immigrants, while accounting for 12 percent of the population, made up nearly half of the all scientists and engineers with doctorate degrees. Nearly 70 percent of the men...
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July 14, 2009
Anti-immigrant groups have repeatedly tried to drive a wedge between African Americans and immigrants by capitalizing on the myth that immigrants take American jobs. In a new Perspectives piece for...
Publication Date: 
May 13, 2009
AgJOBS is a bipartisan, compromise bill that is the result of years of negotiations among farmworkers, growers, and Members of Congress. Get the facts on Farmworkers.
March 19, 2021

Employers and workers are starting to see a shift from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on unlawful restrictions of the H-1B specialty occupation visa category. Over the past nine...

February 5, 2021

Business immigration has already benefited from the change in administrations. On January 25, President Biden issued an executive order directly replacing a Trump-era executive order that wreaked...

January 14, 2021

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently issued a final rule changing the way U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selects the registrations of U.S. employers that want to...

January 8, 2021

This article is part of the Moving Forward on Immigration series that explores the future of immigration in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.  The Biden administration faces a...

December 14, 2020

The development of a COVID-19 vaccine is a global endeavor. The scientists and entrepreneurs creating the vaccine are of many nationalities and immigration statuses—as are the millions of people...

December 2, 2020

On December 1, a federal district court judge disrupted the Trump administration’s relentless attack on legal immigration by halting two new sets of regulations. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and...

November 13, 2020

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued a proposed rule that will change the way it selects the registrations of U.S. employers that want to file H-1B petitions subject...

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...

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...

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...

Publication Date: 
April 18, 2023
A new research series from the American Immigration Council, The Growing Demand for Healthcare Workers, highlights the crucial role immigrants are playing to help address critical workforce shortages...
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March 9, 2023
This research brief highlights the crucial role immigrants in Nevada are playing to help address critical physician shortages.
Publication Date: 
February 16, 2023

New research from the American Immigration Council, Economic Benefits of the Empire State Licensing: Immigrants in New York State’s Workforce, highlights the crucial role of immigrants and...

February 7, 2023
The American Immigration Council released new research, The Growing Demand for Healthcare Workers in Utah, which underscores the crucial role immigrants play in some of the state’s fastest growing and most in demand healthcare fields.
February 3, 2023
The American Immigration Council reports underscore the key role of immigrant healthcare workforces of Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
January 26, 2023

The United States will need to fill nearly three-quarters of a million open jobs for home health and personal care aides every year through 2031. Currently, immigrant workers fill these jobs in...

January 19, 2023

Immigrant workers who are the victims of labor exploitation are often faced with a difficult choice. They can either stay quiet out of fear of deportation or come forward to report coercive...

Publication Date: 
December 16, 2022
Practitioners who challenge delays in visa processing often face a motion to dismiss based on the consular nonreviewability doctrine. This practice tip examines the scope of the doctrine. It provides arguments, with supporting documentation, to oppose common situations that the government claims are final, nonreviewable decisions.
December 15, 2022

From the displacement following the Russian invasion of Ukraine to migrant bussing across the United States, the immigration field has faced unique challenges this year while continuing to manage...

November 10, 2022
The new report is the first in a series of five reports highlighting immigrants' positive economic impact on Texas border communities.

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