“The issue now is whether or not there is the possibility that this individual will run into some sort of interruption in their ability to remain in the United States and continue working for the company that is sponsoring them,” Anver told Fortune senior writer Phil Wahba. “There have been instances where changes in policy have resulted in employees getting stuck in India and separated from their families for months, many of which have still not been able to make their way back to the United States, and this happened barely six months ago.”
Immigration experts said companies must now not only tackle stricter visa procedures, but also the risk that these procedures could change or be delayed. Anver said the most important way for companies to protect themselves from uncertainties in visa processing is to develop holistic policies that ensure the firm and its employees are not just complying with visa and immigration policies, but also that include contingency plans should an employee be stuck with a lapsed visa or stranded overseas.
“What companies are really having to do again is ensure that they have not just a plan A, but a plan B and a plan C,” Anver said.
David Bier, director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute who spoke alongside Anver, framed companies’ preparedness around visas as not just a way to protect individual employees, but as a way to address a widespread problem of workforce stability.
“It’s very important to understand that many of the people who are going through this process are already employed by your company,” Bier said. “Talent retention is really the new recruitment.”
The cost of losing specialized talent should be an incentive for companies to have an increased awareness of changing immigration policies to stay on top of the procedures needed to retain foreign-born workers, Bier suggested.
“You have to focus on making sure you keep these people in house on the right side of the wall in status going through this process,” he said. “Because if you lose them, you might not ever get them back, and there might not be another person behind them waiting in the wings to fill that role.”
