If you thought all of the wonderful innovations that entrepreneurs have yielded in the U.S. are home-grown, think again. Whether it's Hungarian Andrew Grove's immaculate processor Intel (INTC  ), Russian Sergei Brin's household search engine Google (GOOGL  ) or South African Elon Musk's innovative car company Tesla (TSLA  ), it seems as though the immigrant entrepreneurial spirit shines bright enough to have generated 40% of Fortune 500 companies.

Not to mention the hub of the whole startup scene, Silicon Valley itself: immigrant founders have alone established 52% of Silicon Valley companies between 1995 and 2005. According to a report by FastCompany, immigrants are also more than twice as likely to found businesses as American-born residents.

Why are these figures important? Because the Trump administration declared on Monday that it would at least delay if not completely eradicate a federal rule initiated under Obama that enabled immigrants to hold legal status in the U.S. as "aliens of extraordinary ability." The rule was approved by the Department of Homeland Security in January and would have aided around 3,000 entrepreneurs who were forecasted to qualify for the program.

© .shock / bigstockphoto.com

The rule would have made it possible for firms across the country as well as in Silicon Valley to hire skilled foreign workers and bring in international expertise. Now, a stoppage has been placed on the influx of talent.

"This is unquestionably a setback for the United States in the global race for talent," said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, an immigration advocacy with considerable support from tech companies. "We should be encouraging innovators to bring their new ideas, expertise, and unique skills to our country, rather than incentivizing them to put their talents to work for our competitors abroad."

What's more pressing is the fact that Canada has intensified its talent hunt by adopting more liberal visa laws to allow foreigners to strengthen its economy. At this rate, it won't be long before U.S.'s more docile neighbor catches up to its competitiveness.

© Geoff Livingston / Flickr.com

On the more technical side of things, the lack of such a 'startup visa' could also amplify complications for companies that employ many immigrants, such as Microsoft (MSFT  ) and Ernst and Young. The need for international talent may force them to increase bureaucratic processes in order to be able to retain or acquire adequate workers, which would significantly increase costs that could then be funneled out of other operations resulting in lowered pay rates, quality of employee benefits and perks.

Moreover, if less immigrants are able to enter the country for business purposes, the American economy as a whole will suffer. Foreign investors will be less incentivized to put their money in businesses that a) cannot not support their own people and b) are less efficient without the required technical skill and expertise from abroad. Also, one must keep in mind that there exists a mismatch of skills and job requirements due to the 2008 financial crisis, with many native-born American workers not as well-versed in technological fields, potentially resulting in structural unemployment.

Overall, this is an issue that needs to be promptly addressed, else the tech industry as well as innovation may have to bear the brunt of Trump's conservative legislation.