The US Presidential Election is over, and Trump is now President-Elect. In that election, I voted for Trump. I am not an emotional voter, I am an independent voter who looks at promising policies that will shape the nation's course for good, and I support the most qualified candidate who can lead the implementation of that policy. In one of the podcasts I made before the election; I said, President Trump is not against immigration, he is against illegal immigration" (Watch here).
This podcast appealed to naturalized immigrants in my community, who were not interested in voting for Trump because of his stance on illegal immigration. Many naturalized immigrants desire to bring their relatives living in disadvantaged foreign countries to America for the promise of a better life.
Now, we're at another milestone. Trump is now elected, and Americans are divided over H1B Policy issues, calling on Trump not to remove the cap on H1B and asking him not to allow Indian tech workers to take over jobs belonging to Americans. So I wanted to share a few things with my friends and fellow Americans who were born on the soil.
I happen to be a naturalized immigrant, who migrated from one of the most efficient countries in the world, situated in Asia, and I am originally from Nigeria. Most of my adult life was lived in Singapore and now America. I have more Asian friends than I do Nigerian friends, and I have more Indian friends than I do Nigerian friends. I am also an American missionary, God has called me to build up lives. In this calling, I have mentored a diverse group of Americans including college students, helping them build technical competency and some of them have gone on to secure employment in the world's famous organizations such as Amazon and Microsoft. So I write from an interesting vantage point. To my fellow American friends, I wanted to share some thoughts about the H1B Visa with you.
In the past 10 years, we have analyzed thousands of resumes of students in US colleges. We found that more Chinese and Indian students on Student visas in America have technical resumes than their American counterparts. 9 out of 10 American college students we surveyed preferred to go work in Media, Marketing, Social Work, Sales and Retail, and Podcasting after school over their Chinese and Indian counterparts who prefer taking employment in Tech-related roles.
When you look at the destiny of nations, every nation has its core competencies, and you can tell those core competencies by the solutions coming out of those countries. India, for example, produces great physicians and technologists, and they have one of the best healthcare and technology solutions in the world; the same with China. China creates products, and they are great at product engineering. America has great marketing and business sense, America can bring together talents to market products. You see a derivative of that in the number of coaches and podcasters entering the media daily. When you take a look at Trump, he embodies the American spirit of business and salesmanship, and as President, he will go on to sell America to attract talent. This is one of the promises of Making America Great Again: to bring the best talents to contribute to the economy and ensure the border is closed so America doesn't continue to pack unvetted people and incompetent hands. Did you know that like technology, healthcare companies recruit nurses from outside of the United States? United States, just like China, Canada, the United Kingdom recruits teachers of English Language and Hausa Languages from other nations to help their citizens attain competency in these areas in return for work permits and permanent residents
Where do you think America gets her power from? Immigration is one of those places where America draws her power. Immigration has always been one of the tools for America’s economic growth and power in the world - in simpler words, sources and brings the best talents to contribute to the economy. America has thrived on this for centuries. In immigration, is where "diversity" is enshrined - bringing diverse talents from diverse cultures to build America. American companies thrive on attracting the best talent to build America's systems. Trump knows this and his loyal followers must realize that even though Trump is against illegal immigration, he'll push for legal immigration to keep America competitive. In the previous pre-election Destiny of Nations podcast, I encouraged future immigrants to make themselves become the best wherever they are first, and legal immigration to America will become easier for them.
Coming at a time when the dollar is fast gaining competition and many countries are joining the BRICs system, Crypto, and AI, companies afford talent shortages in AI, Technology, and Crypto; and people need to look at the big picture, or the next 5 and 10 years is gloomy for America.
Next, let's talk about Americans born here in America who are concerned that H1B visa holders and naturalized immigrants from China, India, and Africa are taking over American jobs and replacing them. When you go on social media and podcast platforms right now, you'll see working-age young Americans all doing podcasts, all wanting to become the next content creator star, you'll also see a lot of coaches with no tangible professional skills, with the majority all scrambling to regurgitate the same plagiarized content they've stolen from an author no one is paying attention to. Imagine if these coaches had underlying skills they were transferring to others. Keeping technical jobs for a population with a shortage of talent makes America lose its competitive advantage. Everyone wants to be in front of the camera, becoming a coach or a podcaster, with only a few technical and engineering hands. This is where China and India H1B visa holders come in to close the talent gap.
The American talent needs a lot of work and there's work to do to fix this gap, After the COVID lockdown, it was difficult to get young Americans back to work. Many ghosted their employers, during these times, foreign talent came to help many of these companies being ghosted by foreign workers. Only mature American workers showed up. Many organizations keep their door open with the help of foreigners on work visas..
America must start looking into AI, technology, and apprenticeship. Focus on practical hands-on technology training, and becoming competent at technology. This approach takes 3-5 years to cultivate strong technology talents; and 1 year for entry-level technology roles.
America under Trump must also implement policies that encourage AI and technology hands-on training for Americans, in the future, America will rely less on Chinese and Indian H1B visas, but until America rises to develop capacity in areas lacking, especially AI and technology, legal immigration will solve much of these problems.
Leadership comes in to ensure that H1B Visa holders only fill the jobs that American talent shortages cannot fill. This is something the Trump 2nd Administration must ensure. A feat the Joe Biden Administration could not achieve with their open border policy. As millions of illegal immigrants flooded the country, American workers were threatened.
So I say to the American talent who are thinking of H1B Visas holders as a replacement - it is not, it gives America a competitive advantage
Look inward and ask yourself if technology is your calling and search if you want to develop your technical gift; if yes, read widely, find a technical mentor, and tell your elected representative to release more budgets for apprenticeship programs to train American workers. If technology is not your thing, focus on your calling and embrace the diversity of talents; if not, America will lose its relevance in the League of world powers.
The next question to ask is; if you were willing to change careers to enter into technical careers just because you dont want others from other countries to replace you; how many people who were born in America like you will do the same?
America is a nation founded by immigrants who continue to welcome other hard-working immigrants until the date to stay competitive, so the doors to legal immigration will never close, but the doors to illegal immigration, which damages economies, must be closed. If you want to migrate to other countries, go strengthen your hand and mind to become the best in your craft, and nations will come asking for you.
One more thing: host countries like America welcoming immigrants must ensure immigrants integrate into the host culture and lifestyle.
Personally, I think immigration goes far beyond America as a nation, it is God's system of distributing and sharing resources amongst nations, and the nation who knows how to harness the power of immigration wins the most.
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