Trump administration to impose a $100,000-per-year price for H-1B visas

President Donald Trump has signed a brand new government order, which provides a $100,000 price to H-1B visa functions. It is not a one-time fee both: The New York Times has reported that firms must pay $100,000 a 12 months for any worker it brings over to the US on the visa for as much as six years. The Secretary of Homeland Safety will prohibit approval for visa functions of people who find themselves “at the moment exterior the USA” until accompanied by the price, although the rule “permits case-by-case exemptions if [it’s] within the nationwide curiosity.” This new requirement will solely apply to new visa candidates, a White Home official informed The Instances, and it’ll doubtless face authorized challenges. If it does get applied, although, it might deal an enormous blow to the tech business.

Whereas a number of sectors within the US use this system to convey expert staff into the nation, a few of its greatest beneficiaries are within the tech sector. In keeping with the US Citizen and Immigration Services, Amazon has probably the most quantity (over 10,000) of staff on the H-1B visa. Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google are additionally within the high ten listing of employers that introduced over H-1B staff, with between 4,000 and 5,500 workers on the visa. Walmart, Intel, IBM and NVIDIA have a substantial variety of H-1B staff, as nicely. As TechCrunch has famous, Elon Musk, who was near the president, came visiting to the US on the H-1B, as did Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger.

Within the White House’s announcement, the administration defined that some employers have abused the H-1B visa to “artificially suppress wages,” making a disadvantageous marketplace for People. “Info know-how (IT) corporations specifically have prominently manipulated the H-1B system, considerably harming American staff in computer-related fields,” the announcement learn.

Trump has additionally signed an order for a brand new visa program known as the “Gold Card,” which the administration says will prioritize “the admission of aliens who will affirmatively profit the Nation, together with profitable entrepreneurs, traders, and businessmen and ladies.” It is an expedited immigrant visa program, obtainable to anyone who can afford the “requisite reward” the federal government asks for. Particularly, the reward made to the US Division of Commerce have to be “$1 million for a person donating on his or her personal behalf and $2 million for an organization or comparable entity donating on behalf of a person.”