President Trump made it much more expensive for businesses to hire foreign workers through the H-1B program. The White House announced Friday that Trump has signed a declaration requiring his employer to pay a large $100,000 fee for his new H-1B visa application.
The H-1B visa allows US companies to hire foreign workers in areas that require technical expertise, such as engineering, mathematics, or medicine. The program is restricted with 65,000 new visas per year and an additional 20,000 new visas for foreign graduates who have earned advanced degrees from universities in the US. Visas are awarded through the lottery system and are usually awarded for three years, but holders can expand them or apply for a green card.
The administration’s new move is designed to crack down on what is called the program’s widespread abuse. The share of IT workers with H-1B visas has skyrocketed from 32% in 2003 to more than 65% today, but the recent unemployment rate among computer science graduates has reached 6.1%, according to the White House.
Silicon Valley will definitely make its appearance in weapons through the initiative. The limit aims to programs that will help create the largest success story in the region.
Elon Musk, an intimate ally of most of this year, originally worked in the US for the H-1B after arriving as a student. In fact, Musk has been having problems with critics of the H-1B program on Platform X in December. “The reason we’re in America with many important people who have built hundreds of other companies that have strengthened SpaceX, Tesla and American is because of H1B.
Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger hires AI Giant Anthropic Chief Product Officer and is one of the aforementioned success stories. The Brazilian-born Stanford University alumni worked on the early instant messaging platform Meebo on the H-1B visa.
Earlier this year, the National Venture Capital Association argued in a letter to the National Science Foundation that “annual caps of H-1B visas issued each year are issued to migrants who work in basic jobs to create businesses where more successful migrants are founded to work for immigrants who work in jobs that require a significant amount of technical and professional training.”
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The NVCA states, “H-1B visas are not ideal for immigrants who want to quickly find US companies, but they still remain extremely important to the success of immigrant founders, as they provide valuable work experience and expand the pipeline of potential immigrant startup founders.” (The H-1B employer and employee requirements make it virtually impossible for founders to get it directly, and they got a green card to launch their own startup before forcing employers to spend years of time.
On Friday, X’s technology leaders had already warned about their talent for fleeing to a more welcoming country. Amazon, Google and Microsoft reportedly told employees with H-1B visas to avoid traveling abroad and stay in the US for now.
In the meantime, in a declaration on Friday, the Trump administration pointed to certain companies that were completely bored with criticism of the program, simultaneously firing American employees and approving thousands of H-1B workers. According to a White House fact sheet, one unnamed company has cut approximately 16,000 U.S. jobs with approval of 5,189 H-1B workers this year.
Declaration – It says it is partly rooted in efforts to “protect our national security,” but includes a wiggle room. A case-by-case exemption is available if it is deemed to be in national interest.
He also directs the Secretary of Labor to modify wage requirements to prevent the expansion of American salaries.
This post has been updated to include reports on how Amazon, Google and Microsoft are responding.
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