New $100K H-1B visa fee to cost US tech billions, push innovation offshore

"Earlier this month, President Donald J. Trump announced a presidential proclamation reform to the H-1B visa program: every new H-1B visa petition must include a one-time, $100,000 fee per sponsored worker. The fee applies only to new petitions - not renewals or current visa holders. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations (such as tech, engineering, finance). Each year, the program brings in 85,000 high-skilled high-paid professionals to help power the US economy."

"The new H-1B fee is more than 130 times what the old base fee had been ($215-$780) and now accounts for more than 95% of the total application cost - rendering the old filing fees nearly insignificant when compared to the new charge. "For tech companies, this is more than just another fee. It takes billions away from areas like product development, hiring, and innovation," said Gianluca Ferruggia, general manager at DesignRush, a talent outsourcing platform. Historically, about 60% to 70% of H-1B approvals have gone to tech jobs such as software engineers and data specialists."

A new presidential proclamation mandates a one-time $100,000 fee for every new H-1B visa petition, applying only to new petitions and not renewals. The H-1B program annually admits 85,000 high-skilled professionals in specialty occupations, with roughly 60–70% of approvals historically going to tech roles. The fee is more than 130 times the previous base charge and will constitute the vast majority of application costs. Estimated impacts include about $5.5 billion per year for tech hires alone, reduced use of cross-border talent, budget cuts to product development, and likely shifts of innovation to India, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

Read at Computerworld