Hayman Woodward PLLC, a leading Immigration and Business Consulting firm based in Washington D.C., announced that the increasingly unstable political and economic landscape in Brazil is driving Brazilians to seek opportunities abroad. Brazilian IT professionals are primarily focusing on Silicon Valley, home to the world’s largest technology companies, including Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Facebook.
IT clients, who once represented only 6% of Hayman Woodward’s portfolio, have recently doubled that percentage, and this growth is expected to continue at the same level in the coming years. To further strengthen this trend, the US is currently experiencing a growth moment with the lowest unemployment rate in the last 50 years.
It is noted that there is a significant shortage of IT professionals in the US market, both in quantity and quality. About 40% of these workers, who currently work at 
large American companies, are foreigners. The vast majority come from China, Japan, and India.
Regardless, Brazil has historically been among the largest exporters of skilled labor in the Information Technology field, primarily to the United States, Japan, and Canada.
While many IT professionals migrate to the US with H-1B visas, the EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) visa has proven to be the best immigration option for the most qualified. These categories offer an excellent opportunity for qualified foreigners who will contribute to the US in certain areas of work that are in shortage or require skilled labor, without the need to have an employer as a sponsor or a concrete job offer. Unlike the H-1B, which is a temporary visa, the NIW EB-2 visa results in permanent residency in the US through a Green Card. The EB-2 NIW category can benefit individuals already in the US with other types of temporary visas, such as the H-1B, for example, or holders of immigrant visas who have advanced academic training and/or unique professional skills.