0:00

It's no secret that local businesses are

0:02

having a hard time filling positions for

0:04

those needing skilled workers. It may be even more difficult.

0:06

Some companies are looking toward international

0:09

talent, but that can be difficult too. Jill

0:11

Foose is with Trivers, an award

0:13

winning architecture firm here in Saint Louis.

0:15

Welcome to KMOX Joel. Well,

0:17

you recently wrote a very interesting piece in the Post

0:20

dispatch about immigration and hiring

0:22

immigrant employees. How many

0:24

of your current staff at Trivers fits

0:26

that description? Sure.

0:28

We have four employees

0:30

that are currently going through the immigration

0:33

process and we have uh

0:35

another naturalized citizen.

0:38

Um that's part of the

0:39

firm as well in all this talk about immigration.

0:42

I I don't know if people

0:44

understand what businesses are

0:46

going through in trying to hire people.

0:48

And we do have the H One B

0:50

Visa program which you

0:52

know, depending on which, which has

0:55

let a certain amount of people

0:57

come to this country to fill skilled positions.

0:59

But there are problems and pitfalls

1:01

with that program as well. What are you finding

1:04

are some of the issues with

1:06

the H One B Visa program?

1:08

One, it's, it's, it's very limiting

1:10

there's only about 85,000 H one

1:12

B visas that are issued, you

1:14

know, across the entire country. And a lot

1:17

of the students, you know, that

1:19

were the folks that we're hiring

1:22

are from higher ed institutions,

1:24

two of which in our firm are coming from

1:26

Washington University. Uh We

1:28

have one in our office from the University of Michigan

1:31

and another gentleman who's coming

1:33

from uh jury University.

1:35

So all those schools have,

1:38

you know, hundreds if not thousands of other

1:40

international students that have gone through

1:42

their programs. And a lot of these

1:44

have stem extensions for

1:46

about three years coming out of their schools,

1:49

but those those expire

1:51

at a certain point. And the H one B is the

1:53

next step for these students to take

1:55

to remain working. And

1:58

um being a part of the United States

2:00

uh employment system with firms

2:02

that are based here. So it's just

2:05

such a limited amount

2:07

of folks that are competing uh for

2:09

those 85,000 spots.

2:11

Um And you know, it's, it's

2:13

extremely competitive and you know, it's not just

2:15

in the field of architecture, obviously, it's, it's across

2:18

the board. So first and foremost,

2:20

what um you know what we're up against

2:22

when we're competing for international talent, just

2:24

the amount of available spots that are

2:26

available.

2:27

And I understand that it is

2:29

a fairly expensive process to

2:31

go through. If you are trying to get

2:33

an H one B visa,

2:35

it, it is um, just the application

2:38

to sponsor ju just to apply

2:41

for the H One BS, um, you know, about $850

2:44

for each candidate that we

2:46

are sponsoring. And then once

2:49

they are selected, it can

2:51

be up to up to about $10,000

2:53

for us to be able to get to that

2:55

point of getting them through the

2:57

visa process. You know, it's a

2:59

modest investment up front of, you

3:01

know, like I said, 850 then

3:03

it'll get all the way up to

3:06

about $10,000 by the time

3:08

all of a

3:08

sudden, done. One of the other things that I did

3:10

not realize is say you

3:12

hire a person who has

3:15

an H one B visa and

3:17

doing a great job and being

3:19

a great part of the company, there is zero

3:21

guarantee that they might be able

3:24

to stay the next year.

3:26

That's correct. It even starts sooner

3:28

than that, you know, with the STEM program.

3:30

And when they, you know, they have

3:33

this extension coming out of

3:35

Stem associated schools

3:37

that they then roll into the H

3:40

one B, um which is not a guarantee.

3:42

And even if they are selected for the initial H

3:44

one B, the re up for that is not

3:47

a guarantee as well. It just creates a lot

3:49

of uncertainty for us as a business

3:51

and a lot of angst uncertainty for

3:53

the individuals themselves. Um

3:56

Just not knowing, having that up in the

3:58

air of not knowing where their next step is,

4:00

is, is really difficult and really challenging.

4:03

And they have to go a lot through a lot of steps to be able to

4:05

solidify that I've talked to, you

4:07

know, all, all of our employees that

4:09

are going through this and have gone through this

4:11

and each one of

4:13

them have gone through different stresses, um,

4:15

in, in different ways, none

4:18

of their experiences have been the

4:20

same. But you certainly

4:22

know that it is, it is challenging

4:24

for them to be going through this. You know, they're

4:27

trying to figure out their lives and trying to

4:29

figure out what they're gonna do. Um, you

4:31

know, in a three year window, it's, it's very

4:33

tight and really not understanding

4:36

what lies ahead for you in that, in that

4:38

time frame is, is tough. So,

4:40

you know, you can see one of the ones that are selected,

4:42

the relief that they get from that. It's

4:44

just, it's almost like a huge weight lifted off

4:47

their shoulders in the, that

4:49

have not, unfortunately for

4:51

the one that we was not selected

4:53

and he actually had to return back to his home country.

4:56

That was really hard to see,

4:58

very emotional for him. And

5:00

for us,

5:01

we have done a number of stories

5:03

about how the ST Louis region

5:05

is in a demographic winter

5:08

that we are losing population

5:10

and that we have more um people

5:12

in the region dying that are being born or moving

5:15

here. That is not good when it comes to

5:17

being able to hire people. How important do

5:19

you believe immigration is to,

5:21

helping to fill out the population

5:24

and fill in all these empty

5:26

jobs that, uh, are here in the

5:28

region?

5:29

Uh, I think it's, it's enormously

5:31

important. Um, I feel like it's a huge

5:34

opportunity for our, for

5:36

our region. Um, you know, we have

5:38

the, we have land, we have available

5:41

um housing, a lot of it needs,

5:43

needs some work and attention. Yes, but

5:46

it's here and

5:48

other areas that are, are,

5:50

are overburdened or overstressed of, of

5:52

population pushes. Um

5:55

You know, it's like we can, we can help

5:57

ease that nationally and

5:59

you know, help fill out the infrastructure

6:02

that we already have here in place in ST

6:04

Louis City specifically, it's such

6:07

a, it's such an opportunity that I think

6:09

we have to grow our population

6:11

with, with an immigrant

6:13

push that it can really

6:15

help not only our immigrant population,

6:17

but bolster our, you

6:20

know, folks that are living here to just

6:22

make a more enriched and

6:24

vibrant life that we

6:26

know that ST Louis can provide. Do

6:28

you know, offhand if there is any

6:30

movement or any politicians

6:33

that you know, of working on fixing this portion

6:35

of it? Because I feel that the talk

6:38

of immigration kind of gets bogged

6:40

down in focus on the southern

6:42

border and it all kind of gets

6:44

lumped together in people's minds.

6:46

Yeah,

6:47

it does. I mean,

6:49

it almost feels like that, uh,

6:51

conversations about the border are,

6:54

um, you know, a separate arm

6:56

of this conversation but in a lot of ways it's

6:58

not, I'm not an immigration expert,

7:01

you know, I, I deal with one aspect of

7:03

it here but understanding the complexities

7:05

that it is to go through legal

7:07

immigration and if we can get

7:10

legal immigration, you

7:12

know, you know, figured out

7:14

in a less antiquated way and

7:16

a more streamlined way, my feeling

7:18

is that would help, you know, the,

7:20

the push on the southern border and

7:22

ease that burden because, you

7:25

know, these people are getting to the point that they're desperate

7:27

and they're moving forward, you know, without,

7:30

you know, they've got no other choices and they're,

7:32

they're, you know, going to other means

7:35

and if immigration, legal immigration

7:37

can be done in a much,

7:40

um, a much

7:43

more straightforward and streamlined

7:45

way, I think it can really

7:47

help, you know, the other aspects that we hear

7:49

about more in the news than, you know, maybe

7:52

some of the issues that we talk about on dealing

7:54

with, you know, it from a business standpoint,

7:56

Joel Foose is a principal at

7:59

Trivers here in ST Louis joining us on

8:01

KMX. Thanks.

8:02

Thank you, Debbie. It was nice speaking with you.