Immigration strategies

Special collection

Every day, organizations worldwide are engaged in a collective two steps forward, one step back march toward improved immigration services and policies. What hard-earned lessons are these nonprofits, and the foundations that support them, learning from their persistent efforts? This collection of evaluations, case studies, and lessons learned exposes and explores the nuances of effective collaboration, the value of coordinated messaging, the bedrock of ongoing advocacy efforts, and the vital importance of long-term and flexible funding.

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Why the United States Still Needs Foreign-Born Workers

July 25, 2023

Without continued net inflows of immigrants, the U.S. working-age population will shrink over the next two decades and by 2040, the United States will have over 6 million fewer working-age people than in 2022. Announcements of high-profile layoffs and concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) obscure America's continuing need for additional workers at the top and bottom of the skill distribution. International migration is the only potential source of growth in the U.S. working-age population in the coming years.The research involved analyzing data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, including the Current Population Survey and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

AI and Immigrants

June 27, 2023

Immigrants have founded or cofounded nearly two-thirds (65% or 28 of 43) of the top AI companies in the United States, and 70% of full-time graduate students in fields related to artificial intelligence are international students, according to a new National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) analysis. Seventy-seven percent of the leading U.S.-based AI companies were founded or cofounded by immigrants or the children of immigrants. Forty-two percent (18 of 43) of the top U.S.-based AI companies had a founder who came to America as an international student.

The Historic Refugee Crisis in the Western Hemisphere

January 31, 2023

The United States is experiencing a historic refugee crisis in the Western Hemisphere that has been cast as a border crisis, according to a National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) analysis. Criticism of the increase in Border Patrol encounters has implied that individuals would not come to the United States if U.S. immigration policy were sufficiently harsh. However, the countries from which people are seeking refuge or employment in America have experienced economic and political upheavals. These upheavals or continuing violence and repression have created a large number of refugees.The best way to address illegal entry is to treat the current situation at the border as a historic refugee crisis and provide legal pathways for work and human rights protection.

Refugees & Asylum Seekers

The Impact of the Covid-19 Drop in International Migration on the U.S. Labor Market

February 3, 2022

The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a sharp drop in international migration to the United States, but there is no evidence the entry of fewer foreign workers on temporary visas improved outcomes for U.S. workers. The research in this policy brief examined labor markets where more temporary foreign workers were employed prior to the pandemic and found the drop in H-2B program admissions did not boost labor market opportunities for U.S. workers but rather, if anything, worsened them. The results also do not indicate gains for similar U.S. workers in labor markets that had relied more on the H-1B and J-1 visa programs.U.S. labor markets have undergone tremendous change since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. With unemployment rates near record lows in many areas and wages rising at a brisk clip, particularly for entry-level jobs, some may be tempted to argue that the decrease in international migration led to better labor market opportunities for American workers. The analysis here gives little reason to believe any gains for U.S. workers are linked to lower admission of temporary foreign workers.The ongoing shortages of workers in many labor markets reflect U.S. employers' need for additional workers from both domestic sources and abroad. The research also examines data on job postings and the results point to jobs, particularly highly skilled jobs, going unfilled when temporary foreign workers were unable to enter the country. The decrease in new temporary foreign workers in the U.S. as a result of the pandemic thus does not appear to have led to better labor market outcomes for U.S. natives but rather to jobs left unfilled.

H-1B Petitions and Denial Rates in FY 2021

January 12, 2022

The Trump administration's losses in federal court returned H-1B denial rates for employers in FY 2021 to pre-Trump levels, according to a new analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP). Judges declared the Trump administration's actions to be unlawful, forcing changes in restrictive immigration policies that resulted in the denial rate for new H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY 2021 to drop to 4%, far lower than the denial rate of 24% in FY 2018, 21% in FY 2019 and 13% in FY 2020. The Trump administration managed to carry out what judges determined to be unlawful policies for nearly four years, and the policies imposed significant costs on employers, visa holders and the U.S. economy, likely contributing to more work and talent moving to other countries.