The Immigration Trends Report 2020 by Envoy Global and The Harris Poll surveyed over 400 HR professionals and found that 85% of employers expect their company’s headcount of foreign nationals to increase or remain the same in the next year.
“This year’s survey confirms the clear importance of foreign talent in the U.S. economy, as the skills gap shows no signs of closing and the desire for a diverse workforce grows,” said Richard Burke, CEO of Envoy Global.
“Despite the demand, employers struggle with lack of efficiency, transparency and visa availability in the current immigration process. Our Trends Report aims to highlight these challenges and offer solutions to overcome them in order to maintain and enhance effective talent acquisition strategies.” Richard added
Some of the top findings and trends from the 2020 report include:
- Demand for Foreign Talent remains high as companies use immigration to foster diverse workforces
- 93% of those surveyed said that sourcing foreign nationals were important to their company’s talent acquisition strategy, while about half said filling of open positions was the primary driver in the growth of their immigration work.
- Immigration remains a top priority for talent acquisition (TA) teams as 95% of employers said sourcing foreign nationals is important to their TA strategies.
- 85% of employers expect their company’s foreign national headcount to increase or remain the same next year.
Almost half of the employers said that hiring high-skilled talent for whom they were unable to secure work authorization in the US was the primary driver for their outbound immigration assignments.
On immigration policies, 38% said that the visa process had become more difficult under the current administration, while 71% of employers said that they had sponsored a foreign employee for a green card, with 35% saying that they had sponsored more green cards over the past year.
According to the report, employers found that the demand for foreign talent increased at its most rapid pace even as the US continued to experience record-low unemployment levels.
The national survey was conducted online by The Harris Poll from Oct 30th to Nov 16th, 2019, with 433 HR professionals and hiring managers participating across a variety of industries and company sizes. All participating companies have experience with employment-based visa sponsorship or green card sponsorship. Questions covered internal and external global immigration processes and challenges. All global immigration questions were limited to respondents with global immigration experience (255). The data is weighted; a full methodology is available.
The Harris Poll is one of the longest-running surveys in the U.S. tracking public opinion, motivations and social sentiment since 1963 that is now part of Harris Insights & Analytics, a global consulting and market research firm that strives to reveal the authentic values of modern society to inspire leaders to create a better tomorrow. To learn more, please visit https://www.theharrispoll.com
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