Facebook, Apple and Amazon to lobby next president over tech worker visas

An open letter sent through tech's trade bodies will pressure politicians on raft of policies, including support for controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal

Facebook, Apple, Amazon and a host of top technology companies are planning to publicly urge the next US president to support a swath of new regulation that would make it easier for them to hire highly skilled workers for overseas, Reuters reports.

In an open letter expected to be published on Wednesday, a host of trade bodies representing technology firms will lay out 12 policy recommendations including pledging support for the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, urging more "narrowly targeted government access to user data" and recognition of encryption as a "critical security tool".