"President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation that will require a $100,000 annual visa fee for highly-skilled foreign workers and rolled out a $1 million "gold card" visa as a pathway to U.S. citizenship for wealthy individuals, moves that face near-certain legal challenges amid widespread criticism he is sidestepping Congress."
"If the moves survive legal muster, they will deliver staggering price increases. The visa fee for skilled workers would jump from $215. The fee for investor visas, which are common in many European countries, would climb from $10,000-$20,000 a year."
"H-1B visas, which require at least a bachelor's degree, are meant for high-skilled jobs that tech companies find difficult to fill. Critics say the program is a pipeline for overseas workers who are often willing to work for as little as $60,000 annually, well below the $100,000-plus salaries typically paid to U.S. technology workers."
"Lutnick said the change will likely result in far fewer H-1B visas than the 85,000 annual cap allows because "it's just not economic anymore." "If you're going to train people, you're going to train Americans." Lutnick said on a conference call with reporters. "If you have a very sophisticated engineer and you want to bring them in ... then you can pay $100,000 a year for your H-1B visa.""
A presidential proclamation imposes a $100,000 annual fee on highly skilled-worker visas and creates a $1 million "gold card" visa that leads to U.S. citizenship, with corporate sponsorship costing $2 million. Existing H-1B fees would rise dramatically from $215, and investor visa costs would increase from $10,000–$20,000. Officials predict far fewer H-1B admissions because higher fees could make hiring foreign workers uneconomic. The changes face near-certain legal challenges and broad criticism for circumventing Congress. Some administration officials claim major companies support the measures, while many tech firms had not commented.
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