A $100,000 visa: Trump intends to curb the arrival of foreigners in tech

For the American president, explains The Wall Street Journal , the reasoning is simple: the H-1B visa, valid for three years and renewable for three years, “is used by tech companies to avoid hiring American workers.” By increasing its price to $100,000, compared to a few thousand dollars today, he intends to force these tech giants to only look abroad for “truly exceptional people” and to prioritize recruiting Americans.

“Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to steal our jobs,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told tech giants. Amazon, Google, and Tesla are among the biggest users of these visas, which have been capped at 85,000 annually since 2004, the BBC reports . They bring in computer scientists and other engineers, mostly from India, The Wall Street Journal adds. Last year, 71% of workers granted H1-B visas were from India, according to U.S. government data.

Citing the "astronomical sum" required to obtain the H-1B visa, The Hindu sees "negative repercussions" for Indian employees. But also for a large number of small American businesses and startups, notes the BBC , quoting immigration lawyer Tahmina Watson. For them, this amount could be "the final blow."

“Almost everyone is going to be priced out. That $100,000 is going to have a devastating impact.”

Tahmina Watson explains that many small and medium-sized businesses say they can't find the employees they need. "When employers sponsor skilled foreign workers, it's often because they haven't been able to fill those positions," she adds.

The measure, CNN adds , is “the latest in a series of initiatives taken by the administration to combat immigration and impose new restrictions on the types of foreigners allowed to enter the country.” Alongside the new H-1B visa price, Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a million-dollar “gold card.” In other words, a residence permit for the super-rich. Howard Lutnick, who initiated the initiative, believes that with the current “green card,” the United States is welcoming the least qualified foreigners. “We will only accept exceptional people, those at the very top of the ladder,” the Commerce Secretary said, quoted by CNN . “This is going to be a huge success,” the White House tenant predicted.