Key segment of US economy, tech firms will be hit by Trump’s ban on hiring H-1B workers

Washington: The US tech sector is likely to be hit hard by President Donald Trump’s decision to extend a freeze on most immigrant visas, with critics saying the move could undermine American innovation and leadership.

Trump this week said he would extend the ban through the end of the year and broaden it to include H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, as well as L visas used by companies to transfer their own employees.

The move could deal a blow to Silicon Valley and the rest of the tech sector, which has long relied on skilled immigrants to fill key positions of engineers, data scientists and other jobs in high demand.