Precarity for the global talent: The impact of visa policies on high‐skilled immigrants’ work in the United States

Abstract The current historical context of growing diversification of legal statuses for high‐skilled immigrants since the 1990s has made immigration to the United States a multi‐step process: first immigrants have temporary legal statuses, or no legal status, and only in a subsequent stage acquire legal permanent residency. I analyse the constraints this multi‐step legal trajectory puts on highly skilled immigrants’ work in the United States. Specifically, what consequences it has for high‐skilled immigrants’ incorporation into the labour market the restrictions attached to temporary legal statuses and the visa backlogs and waiting lists immigrants experience in the transition from temporary to permanent residency. Based on 30 semi‐structured interviews with high‐skilled immigrants, I explain why legal status constraints their work due to three main reasons: immigrants’ attachment to one employer; difficulties finding a job that sponsors work temporary or permanent visas; and retaining the same job under different legal statuses.