Indians and Chinese and other ethnicities have contributed significantly to the tech boom that we have seen.

And now the AI race.

How are we going to compete with China if we don't take advantage of the best talent around the world to help us in the AI race?

Thank you. around the world to help us in the AI race. Welcome to Geekwire from Geekwire.com in Seattle.

I'm Todd Bishop.

This past week, the U.S. tech and startup community was stunned, really, by an executive order

imposing a $100,000 fee for employers seeking new H-1B visas

for skilled foreign workers. This is a program heavily used by the technology industry.

The question is, are skilled immigrants taking American jobs, or are they a vital engine for

innovation and economic growth? Our guest today on the podcast has a really strong point of view on this topic.

Shereesh Nad Carney is a serial entrepreneur who founded companies acquired by Blackberry and Rosetta

Stone.

He's a veteran of Microsoft.

And he just released a very timely new book.

It's called the Indian American Tech Success Story, which makes

the case that immigrant founders, particularly from India, are one of America's greatest

economic assets, creating far more jobs than they could ever be accused of taking.

Shereesh, welcome to the show. Great to be with you, Todd. Thank you for making the trip into

the Geekwire office. And I want to

talk about your book, and as I said, it's very timely. But let's just get started with the news this

past week. For you, what was your first thought when you heard about this new $100,000 fee that the

U.S. government's going to be imposing on new H-1B visas? Yeah, I did expect that there would be some restrictions for H-1B visas, but I did not expect a $100,000

...