Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation that will require a new annual $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications, among other changes to the program for highly skilled foreign workers that has come under scrutiny by the administration.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the fee will be $100,000 per year and added that “all big companies” are on board.
H-1B visas are meant to bring the best and brightest foreigners for high-skilled jobs that tech companies find difficult to fill with qualified U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The program instead has turned into a pipeline for overseas workers who are often willing to work for as little as $60,000 annually. That is far less than $100,000-plus salaries typically paid to U.S. technology workers.
I really like how they are destroying themselves lmao. Immigration from a low productivity country to a high productivity country is always an economic net positive. By curbing immigration, these idiots call for an economic recession.
But I mean hey, a fascist state killing itself is always a net positive ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The H1-B visa was bastardised from a program targeting speciality workers to just importing workers to undercut local ones (as since your visa is tied to your employer, your bargaining options are limited).
Charging $100k/year wouldn’t be the change I’d make personally but would probably help with the excesses (I’d personally just abolish it, or mandate a minimum wage of 200k/y, or only allow it for unionised locations).
The thing I worry about with this change is that employers would still exploit the workers and pay them like $40k even if they have to hand $100k to the government for that privilege.
Charging $100k/year wouldn’t be the change I’d make personally but would probably help with the excesses (I’d personally just abolish it, or mandate a minimum wage of 200k/y, or only allow it for unionised locations).
The thing I worry about with this change is that employers would still exploit the workers and pay them like $40k even if they have to hand $100k to the government for that privilege.
In other words, you’ve explained exactly why the kleptocrats prefer charging the $100k fee instead of setting a minimum wage: it accomplishes the racism and graft without the nasty side effect of empowering workers.
Yeah, maybe the exploitation is what it’s really about, no matter how much it would cost them in actual dollars.
Of course the companies will still prefer to take the H1B workers - they’re much easier to exploit thanks to the visa requirements.
On the one hand I feel like a $100k fee is a great way to disincentivize employers from pretending they can’t find qualified candidates in America and bring in workers they can more easily coerce.
On the other hand, the trump administration thus far has been firmly on the side of the employers so I have to imagine there’s more to this proclamation.
Based on how the administration has worked so far I imagine it will be selectively enforced as a chain they can yank if any of the tech CEOs step out of line. Show up with a golden trinket, no enforcement or some kind of waiver. Provide any kind of resistance or even just fail to fawn enough, millions in penalties.
The fact that the employers are on board with the plan definitely makes me suspicious. Maybe they made the 100k tax deductable so it doesn’t actually cost them anything or something like that?
It feels like some initiatives are shifting income from the treasury straight into the executive branch (same as the tariffs), so maybe this is just a way of shifting money from one branch to another.
Racists gonna racist I guess
Fascinating
This might lose US jobs, with companies opening offices abroad instead. Maybe good for Canada.
