"Amr Awadallah, founder of AI startup Vectara, had two reactions when he heard about changes to the H-1B visa program that raise the application fee for each visa to $100,000. He was not surprised. But he was dismayed. "I can't afford to pay $100,000," Awadallah told TechCrunch. He's hired one employee on an H-1B, and while the new fee only applies to new applications, he believes it's too high for many startups and will price them out of hiring internationally."
"The H-1B visa was created to allow companies to hire skilled talent from a worldwide market for such occupations as IT and engineering. On Friday, Trump announced that the fee hike, typically paid by the employer, would increase from $2,000-$5,000 to $100,000 per application, a change that will especially be felt with the new batch of visas available in March."
A policy change raises the H-1B employer application fee from roughly $2,000–$5,000 to $100,000 for new applications, affecting the March visa batch. More than 700,000 people currently live in the U.S. on H-1B visas, with over 500,000 dependents. The fee hike will hit smaller startups harder than hyperscale tech companies, potentially pricing startups out of hiring international skilled workers. The H-1B has enabled leaders of major tech firms to enter the U.S. labor market and has been more accessible than O-1 visas or green cards. The change could cost the tech industry billions annually and undermine long-term innovation.
Read at TechCrunch
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