I Want Very Competent People Under H-1B: Trump

I like both sides of the argument, but I also like very competent people coming into our country, even if that involves them training and helping other people who may not have the qualifications they do. But I don’t want to stop -- Donald Trump, President, USA

Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he likes both sides of the argument on the H-1B foreign guest workers’ visa, noting that the country needs ‘very competent’ and ‘great’ people, which is possible through this visa programme. Trump also said that he has also used the H-1B visa programme. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

“I like both sides of the argument, but I also like very competent people coming into our country, even if that involves them training and helping other people who may not have the qualifications they do. But I don’t want to stop -- and I’m not just talking about engineers, I’m talking about people at all levels,” Trump said on Tuesday.

He made these remarks, while talking to reporters at the White House during a joint news conference with Oracle CTO Larry Ellison, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Open AI CEO Sam Altman. The president was responding to a question on the ongoing debate on H-1B visas within his support base. Indians are the main beneficiaries of the H-1B visas, which bring in the best of the talent and brains from across the world.

Highly skilled professionals from India walk away with the overwhelming number of H-1B visas - which is Congressional mandated 65,0000 every year and another 20,000 for those who received higher education from the US. While his close confidants like Elon Musk, the Tesla owner, support H-1B visas as they bring in qualified tech professionals, many of his supporters oppose it arguing that it takes away jobs from Americans. “We want competent people coming into our country.

And H-1B, I know the programme very well. I use the programme. Maitre d’, wine experts, even waiters, high-quality waiters – you’ve got to get the best people. People like Larry, he needs engineers, Masa also needs... they need engineers like nobody’s ever needed them,” Trump said.