A fee of $100,000 for H-1B visas has been imposed by Donald Trump, and warnings have been issued by economists that U.S. growth could be hurt by the change. The application fee was raised by Trump via a proclamation, being made 60 times higher than it was before. The intention was declared to encourage companies to hire more American workers.
A blow was delivered to big tech firms that rely heavily on overseas talent, particularly from India. It was warned by economists that the very high cost could force international graduates to leave the country after their studies, and that human capital loss would be suffered.
Revised U.S. economic growth estimates have been made by Berenberg, being reduced from 2% to 1.5%. A possibility was stated by analysts that even this may soon be seen as optimistic, unless the fee is reversed. A great deal of uncertainty was reported to have been created in the tech industry, especially among those that depend on the visa program. Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google were noted to be among companies with many H-1B visa holders.
It was also pointed out that sectors such as healthcare and education may struggle with future recruitment, and that disruption to families from India was being feared.