H-1B high skilled visas — the most popular U.S. temporary work visa — are often associated with high level jobs in Silicon Valley tech companies. But College Station, Texas has the highest number of H-1B visa approvals per 100 workers over the past few years, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center of data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
Between the lines: Companies located on the East Coast of the U.S. and in Texas actually use the H-1B visas far more than Silicon Valley companies. The large IT company Cognizant is located in College Station, and it files the ninth largest number of Labor Condition Applications (LCA), which are required when hiring workers on an H-1B visa.
Where it stands: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting this year's petitions for H-1B visas on Monday.
Top 10 metropolitan areas for approved H-1B visas:
New York City: 247,900
Dallas: 74,000
D.C.: 64,800
Boston: 38,300
College Station: 37,800
Philadelphia: 34,300
Chicago: 29,900
Houston: 28,900
Atlanta: 28,500
San Jose: 22,200
Best salaries:
The area of Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT has the highest average salary for H-1B workers at $100,200, which Neil Ruiz, one of the study's authors, speculated could be due to its proximity to New York and the financial district.
The Seattle area comes in second, which is likely due to both Amazon and Microsoft being headquartered there. An earlier study by Pew Research showed that both of these companies were on the higher end for paying H-1B workers.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, the area closest to Silicon Valley,comes in 12th for highest salaries with the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward areas to the north of Silicon Valley coming in 6th.
U.S. degrees: There have been some efforts to retain foreign students who attend American colleges and universities, Pew Research points out. San Diego had the highest percentage of H-1B workers with U.S. degrees at 28%, followed by Gainesville, FL and Oklahoma City, OK (27%); An Arbor, MI (25%) and Greensboro, NC (24%).
North Korea says it is stopping nuclear and missile testing
Kim Jong-un. Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has announced the country will stop conducting nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles starting April 21, and shut down a nuclear test site in the north side of the country, through a broadcast on the state news agency KCNA reports, and President Trump announced in a tweet, later adding quotes from the message.
The details: Kim Jong-un explained, “[t]he nuclear test site has done its job,” via a statement broadcasted by North Korea’s state media, per the New York Times. The statement added the country plans to “shut down a nuclear test site in the country’s northern side to guarantee transparency in suspending nuclear tests.”
What it means: This confirms North Korea is not only open to freezing nuclear weapons tests, as it has said before, but that it is planning on doing it. It leaves denuclearization on the table and will, in theory, prevent escalation and proliferation.
