- President US Donald Trump suspended a variety of visa programs, one of which big banks use for hiring, particularly on tech teams.
- In 2019, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup were approved for over 5,000 H-1B visas.
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Big banks have leaned on a visa that has now been suspended as part of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump this week.
On Monday, Trump suspended a variety of visa programs for the remainder of the year, an extension of what was a 60-day freeze on work visas established back in April. The move elicited strong reactions from executives in the tech industry, where the “highly-skilled” H1-B visas are relied on to recruit talent.
Tech companies, however, aren’t the only ones likely to be impacted by the suspension of the program. Big banks, which have continued to put more resources toward their tech teams, have also granted thousands of H-1B visas.
According to data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup accounted for over 5,000 new or renewed H-1B visas in 2019. In total, there are only 85,000 H-1B visa spots open in the US each year.
To be sure, these numbers don’t indicate the total number of employees on H-1B visas at the banks, only the ones that either received or renewed visas in 2019.
JPMorgan, the second-largest of the six banks by headcount, had the highest total number H-1Bs approved in 2019, totalling 1,697 between new (433) and renewed (1,264) visas. A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment.
Despite being the smallest bank of the six in terms of number of employees, there was a total of 1,036 H-1B visas approved in 2019 at some Goldman Sachs entities.
“We consider all qualified candidates for positions at Goldman Sachs regardless of whether they may need a visa for their work authorization,” a Goldman Sachs spokesperson told Business Insider via email. “The firm and our advisors are providing assistance and advice to any employees impacted by the latest Executive Order.”
Citigroup and Bank of America had 748 and 733 approved H-1B visas in 2019, respectively. Spokespeople at both banks declined to comment.
Morgan Stanley had 619 approved H-1B visas in total in 2019. A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment.
Wells Fargo, the largest of the five banks, had the lowest number of H-1B visas approved in 2019, totalling 217.
“Wells Fargo sponsors a limited number of employees with specialized skill sets on H-1B and L-1 visas,” a spokesperson for the bank said via email. “Where applicable, we are working with those employees to help them understand and limit the impact of travel restrictions resulting from the executive order.”
To be sure, Wall Street’s use of the H-1B visa still pales in comparison to Silicon Valley. Google and Amazon were granted 9,078 and 8,937 H-1B visa applications in 2019, respectively. Microsoft, meanwhile, had 5,925 applications, while Facebook had 2,657.
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