Trump Travel Ban Complicates Tech, Research Talent Pipeline

President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban will bar tens of thousands of international business visitors, tourists, and students each year, potentially affecting cutting-edge research in the science and technology sectors.

Venezuelans accounted for nearly half of the 106,000 business travelers and tourists who came to the US on temporary B visitor visas, according to the most recent data released by the State Department, while more than 10,000 student visa holders came from other affected countries led by Iran.

They’re among 19 countries whose nationals are fully or partially blocked from entry to the US because the Trump administration found a “high level of risk,” citing visa overstay rates as well as refusal to accept deportees. That “increases burdens on immigration and law enforcement components of the United States, and often exacerbates other risks related to national security and public safety,” according to the proclamation.

Temporary visa numbers for the travel-ban countries reflect a small share of the millions issued each year, but add to a growing slate of Trump administration restrictions for immigrants and foreign visitors who contribute to US businesses.

The signal it sends to international visitors may be as significant as any concrete effects of the ban, said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the US Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute.

“The combination of all of these actions related to the travel ban, to student visas, to interior enforcement, is sending a very clear message that the US is not interested in having immigrants come to the United States to live and work,” she said.

H-1B Pipeline

The ban affects Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. It also partially limits entry, including temporary visas, for Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Relatively few H-1B specialty occupation visas—just over 500—were issued to those countries at US consulates in fiscal year 2023, the most recently available data from the State Department.

However, most of the 85,000 specialty occupation visas doled out under a statutory cap each year go to workers already in the US. And a major pipeline for that program, heavily used by tech and engineering employers, would be affected by the ban’s impact on international students.

More than 3,700 F-1 student visas were issued to Iranians and another 2,600 were issued to Myanmar nationals. Data from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed that there were more than 14,000 active F-1 student visa folders from Iran in 2024 as well as 6,200 from Burma and 4,900 from Venezuela.

Many of those visa holders were employed by US businesses through a postgraduate work program called Optional Practical Training. Travel ban countries led by Iran also received more than 2,300 J-1 exchange visas, which include foreign scholars and researchers working at US higher education institutions.

Boundless Immigration, a company that assists individuals and businesses pursuing visas, noted that Iranians make up a significant share of PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers in fields such as computer science, electrical engineering, and data science. Afghans and Haitians are also a significant part of the workforce in high-demand jobs like elder care, home health, and nursing assistants, Boundless said.

“American businesses don’t operate in a vacuum,” said Xiao Wang, CEO at Boundless. “When we shut the door on global talent with little nuance, we don’t just lose workers—we lose ideas, innovation, and economic growth.”

The ban includes some exceptions, including for athletes traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting events, which shows that the administration recognizes the need for nuance but only “where it’s most visible,” Wang added.

Trump 1.0 Ban

The proclamation shows Trump is exercising broad authority affirmed in 2018 by the US Supreme Court in Trump v. Hawaii to restrict entry of non-citizens without serious justification beyond national security considerations, said Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economic and social policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

In that 5-4 decision, the justices upheld the third iteration of a travel ban issued by the first Trump administration, ending a legal battle dating to the beginning of his term.

That ban covered seven countries, including five with Muslim majorities. Travel restrictions were later added to other countries, including during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The majority rejected arguments from Hawaii and other states that the ban violated the Establishment Clause, finding the administration provided sufficient rationale for excluding entry from those countries based on national security grounds.

“Nothing good economically will come of this,” Nowrasteh said. “But the major impact will be on American principles where we used to welcome people who fled tyranny.”