A few weeks ago, President Trump announced that he would increase the H-1B visa application fee to $100,000. The price tag shocked the tech ecosystem, which relies heavily on visas to attract talent from other countries.
This week on Equity, we spoke with Jeremy Neufeld, Director of Immigration Policy at the Institute for Progress, about the visa changes, what they mean and why they’re happening.
He said the intent of the visa changes made sense, but their implementation “leaves a lot to be desired”.
“Some of the proposals that are finally agreed upon have loopholes or have the wrong priorities,” he said. As a result, he said the visa changes would likely have the opposite effect than the Trump administration intended. “Attracting top-notch researchers from around the world will be a big tax.”
But despite the shock, there are many people who support the visa changes. Neufeld said it makes sense to ensure that the 85,000 H-1B visa slots actually go to valuable workers, and it makes sense to charge a fee so that only the best people apply and receive visas.
He also spoke about allegations that companies are abusing visas. But again, he said, the changes have loopholes that cannot be ignored.
Elsewhere in the conversation, we also talked about other changes made to visas, such as the required wage levels. We pondered the Trump administration’s reasons for changing visas and the possibility of further visa changes before the spring lottery. Neufeld also talked about how this will impact the global tech scene and employment.
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“A lot of people will be deterred from coming to the United States,” he said.
Overall, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding almost every aspect of this visa change. He said the change is currently in a “notice and comment period” and accepting feedback from the public. Considering the reaction to this change, more changes are likely to occur.
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