President Trump just makes it much more expensive for companies to hire foreign workers through the H-1B program. White House Announced Friday Trump signed a declaration that requires employers to pay $100,000 for new H-1B visa applications, a huge jump in the current $215 lottery registration fee.
The H-1B visa allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers in fields that usually require technical expertise, engineering, mathematics, or medicine. The program is capped at 65,000 new visas per year, plus 20,000 foreign graduates from advanced degrees from American universities. Visa is granted through the lottery system and usually lasts for three years, although the holder can expand or apply for a green card.
The government’s new move aims to combat the so-called widespread abuse of the program, which is blamed for replacing American workers. According to the White House, the share of IT workers with H-1B visas has soared from 32% in 2003 to more than 65% today, while the unemployment rate for computer science graduates has reached 6.1%.
There is no doubt that Silicon Valley will work together on the initiative. These restrictions are targeted at plans that help create some of the largest success stories in the region.
Elon Musk is a close ally of Trump for most of the year, initially working in the United States as a student. In fact, Musk Tweets For individuals, “The reason I’m in the U.S. has built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that make the U.S. strong is because of H1B.
Mike Krieger, the co-founder of Instagram, turned chief product officer of AI giant anthropomorphism, is one of the success stories above. A Brazil-born Stanford graduate worked on an H-1B visa on an early instant messaging platform Meebo.
Earlier this year, the National Association of Venture Capital Arguing in a letter To the National Science Foundation, “The annual cap of H-1B visas issued to educated and highly skilled immigrants who work in jobs that require a lot of technical and professional training, which is essential to generate more successful immigrant-created companies.”
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NVCA notes that while “H-1B visas are not ideal for immigrants who want to find a company in the United States immediately, they are still crucial for the success of immigrants to start a company, as they provide valuable work experience and expand the pipeline for potential immigration startup founders.” (The requirements of H-1B employers and employees make it almost impossible for founders to obtain directly, forcing them to spend years with their employers before getting a green card to open their own startups. Almost gave up on startups Due to these complications before being introduced. )
On Friday, X’s technology leaders have warned that talent fled to more enthusiastic countries. Amazon, Google and Microsoft have reportedly told employees using H-1B visas to avoid foreign travel and Stay in the United States now.
Meanwhile, in Friday’s announcement, the Trump administration’s criticism of the program was rife with criticism, pointing to specific companies that approved thousands of H-1B workers while laying off American workers. According to the White House fact sheet, a company that asked not to be named received approval from 5,189 H-1B workers in the fiscal year, while cutting about 16,000 U.S. jobs.
The announcement said that this stems in part from efforts to “protect our national security” – including swing chambers; if it is believed to be dominated by national interests, it can be exempted on a case-by-case basis.
It also directed the Labor Secretary to amend wage requirements to prevent lowering of U.S. wages.
This article has been updated to include reports on how Amazon, Google and Microsoft respond.
