Retaining Key Foreign National Employees Is Crucial

VISANOW have announced the results of the VISANOW Immigration Trends 2016 survey.

After interviewing more than 400 HR professionals, we found that although more U.S. companies are making substantial investments in recruiting foreign nationals, the hiring professionals responsible for overseeing the process find the current U.S. immigration system frustrating, opaque and difficult to navigate.

“The results of our survey indicate that it’s crucial for employers to be able to hire and retain key foreign national employees,” says Dick Burke, president and chief executive officer of VISANOW.

“Seemingly, employers are concerned that what they perceive to be an increasingly difficult application process, citing an uptick in Requests for Evidence, slow processing times and lack of transparency, is threatening their ability to hire the highly skilled individuals they require to achieve long-term success.”

The report maps out the present and future of immigration at organizations possibly like yours.

Key findings include:

• Foreign nationals are a valued resource - Four in 10 hiring professionals say sourcing foreign nationals is very/extremely important to their hiring strategy.
• Employers are investing in foreign nationals - A majority of companies (63 percent) have sponsored a foreign national for a green card. Of those, 69 percent have also submitted an H-1B application in the last two years.
• Landing foreign national talent is increasingly difficult - Almost half of hiring professionals say visa and green card   application processes have become more difficult in the past five years.
• Employers are frustrated by an inefficient system - A majority of hiring professionals (63 percent) believe the current U.S. immigration system is broken.
• Employers are divided on which 2016 candidate can fix it - When asked which candidate would be best to fix the immigration system, hiring professionals are split between Hilary Clinton (27 percent) and Donald Trump (24 percent), followed by Bernie Sanders (16 percent).

VISANOW processes tens of thousands of cases in 90+ Countries

VISANOW Immigration Trends 2016 survey - Excerpt
Using the following scale, please tell us how important each item is in regards to your company hiring a foreign national.
Immigrants play an important role in meeting the needs of employers. Seven in 10 employers cite filling a skills gap as very/extremely important in the decision to hire a foreign national.