Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says • Hacker News Board

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#931

Post by christkv » Sat, Sep 20, 2025, 2:26 PM UTC

In 2024 These where the top 10 h1b visa companies.

Amazon Com Services LLC- 10,044 H1-B visa holders Tata Consultancy Services LLC- 5,505 Microsoft Corporation- 5,189 Meta Platforms- 5123 Apple Inc- 4,202 Google LLC - 4,181 Cognizant Technology Solution - 2,493 JP Morgan Chase and Co - 2,440 Walmart Associates Inc - 2,390 Deloitte Consulting LLP - 2353

I'm going to speculate that this little is lost by hardening the h1b. The 100 000 a year is not going to stop someone from hiring truly "exceptional" talent.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#932

Post by rayiner » Sat, Sep 20, 2025, 2:37 PM UTC

roughly wrote: post #269

jpadkins wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The top end of H1B has been great for America. In the last few decades, there has been growth of abuse of the program to get mid level talent at below market rates which really hurts the middle class in America. People need to understand that most reformists don't want to get rid of the truly exceptional immigration to the US. We need to limit the volume, especially the immigrants that are directly competing with a h…

The hollowing out of the middle class in the US isn't because of immigrants, it's because of a sustained campaign by capital to reduce the power of labor over the last 50-odd years and to concentrate wealth as best they can. Immigrant labor contributes to that because we've got inadequate labor protections and because we bought into the idea that lower consumer prices was a fine reason to ignore both labor and antitr…

> to reduce the power of labor over the last 50-odd years and to concentrate wealth as best they can.

What happened 50 years ago? Hart-Cellar was in 1965. The foreign-born population dipped below 5% in 1970. It’s 15% today. This had major political ramifications. Democrats were able to move to the right economically because they could substitute labor voters demanding structural reforms with recent immigrant voters who would be happy with relatively small handouts from the government, or even just visas for their extended family.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#933

Post by ratonbox » Sat, Sep 20, 2025, 2:46 PM UTC

tw04 wrote: post #340

jpadkins wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The top end of H1B has been great for America. In the last few decades, there has been growth of abuse of the program to get mid level talent at below market rates which really hurts the middle class in America. People need to understand that most reformists don't want to get rid of the truly exceptional immigration to the US. We need to limit the volume, especially the immigrants that are directly competing with a h…

> People need to understand that most reformists don't want to get rid of the truly exceptional immigration to the US. And how are “they” planning on determining who is “truly exceptional”? And what makes you think the “truly exceptional” ones are still going to have any interest in coming here when they see what happens to the people who the current regime deems “not exceptional”? I sure as hell wouldn’t come to the…

For exceptional ability, you have the O-1 visas.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#934

Post by czl » Sat, Sep 20, 2025, 2:50 PM UTC

fogzen wrote: post #287

cogman10 wrote: post #36

IMO, the fee is the wrong thing that needs adjusting. It's the salary that should be adjusted. The minimum salary for an H1B should be $200k. It's something like 50k right now which is ridiculous especially with all the restrictions an applicant is under. It both suppresses wages and abuses the worker.

IMO the minimum salary should be $0 and Americans should be free to hire whoever they want, without paying a fee and asking permission from the government. Non-citizens should be subject to the same minimum wage and workplace regulations as everywhere else. Whoever wants to come to America should be able to freely come, treated the same as anyone else. But that would be a free market that respected human rights, and…

> Whoever wants to come to America should be able to freely come, treated the same as anyone else.

So just open USA borders to anyone that passes screening (security / health / etc)?

What about gov subsidized welfare / healthcare / education / ...? Would you end all that? If not end it how would you handle the situation with current citizens vs the influx of foreigners who will expect these things be provided for them? And if those who show up start to vote for communism or some other ism that you do not like what will you do?

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#935

Post by socrateswasone » Sat, Sep 20, 2025, 2:53 PM UTC

This is great. I have my doubts about Trump but I have to admit, he is keeping his promises. I thought there was no way he would do something like this with the tech oligarchs swarming around him, but it seems they are firmly under his thumb. Sometimes you just need a Caesar.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#936

Post by RhysU » Sat, Sep 20, 2025, 3:00 PM UTC

sul_tasto wrote: post #551

bettercallsalad wrote: post #194

> India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved beneficiaries Having worked with the recent generation of Indians, I can safely say this can be a good thing. Baseline morality and work ethics for many (not all, but many) in the recent generation of Indians are so low. It’s a generational shift that I can tell. Get rich quick, wannabe try too hard to fit in and have fun with…

Relations between the US and India have been strained recently because India refuses to implement sanctions on Russia for the war in Ukraine. I wonder if there is a geopolitical motive behind the timing of this decision.

I suspect the administration is indeed playing chess like you suggest.

This H1B policy will put internal domestic pressure on India to put sanctions pressure on Russia. If so, waive the fees for the Indian consultancy firms. Anytime India lets up on sanctions, the fees will come back.

Either the US will get the sanctions it seeks or it will get a revenue stream from a policy that plays well to many US voters.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#937

Post by nirav72 » Sat, Sep 20, 2025, 3:17 PM UTC

I can't see this lasting. This could go two ways - either large organizations pay up in some other ways to this administration or this is used as a leverage to force India to come to the table. Also that India receives $36 billion in remittances from overseas Indian workers. The current ruling Party in India is going to feel some pressure from its citizens over that alone.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#938

Post by shswkna » Sat, Sep 20, 2025, 3:57 PM UTC

roughly wrote: post #85

I think there’s plenty of interesting debates to be had about immigration policy and its effects on the labor market, but one thing worth noting here is that the primary problem that damn near every other country on earth has isn’t immigration, it’s brain drain. A core strategic strength of the US over the last century has been that everyone with any talent wants to come here to work, and by and large we’ve let them…

Thats why this move is good news for the rest of the world. Our competitive advantage will increase, year after year, albeit from a low level compared to the US.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#939

Post by aylmao » Sat, Sep 20, 2025, 4:15 PM UTC

lisbbb wrote: post #564

aylmao wrote: post #102

The pendulum swung really hard back to in-person office work a couple years ago. I wonder if this will swing it back and make more positions remote-friendly.

I initially loved remote work and was doing 2/5ths of my week remove before 2020. Once I became fully remote for years, the horror sunk in--it's career suicide.

IMO it’s just different. If you want to go into management or anything involving politics, I do think remote isn’t the move.

As a fully remote engineering contractor I’ve been building my area of expertise, clients and connections, and so far it’s been alright. It does take work and there’s no one to guide you, but in my experience with ambition it’s doable.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#940

Post by azernik » Sat, Sep 20, 2025, 4:25 PM UTC

jpadkins wrote: post #123

roughly wrote: post #85

I think there’s plenty of interesting debates to be had about immigration policy and its effects on the labor market, but one thing worth noting here is that the primary problem that damn near every other country on earth has isn’t immigration, it’s brain drain. A core strategic strength of the US over the last century has been that everyone with any talent wants to come here to work, and by and large we’ve let them…

The top end of H1B has been great for America. In the last few decades, there has been growth of abuse of the program to get mid level talent at below market rates which really hurts the middle class in America. People need to understand that most reformists don't want to get rid of the truly exceptional immigration to the US. We need to limit the volume, especially the immigrants that are directly competing with a h…

First it was "we're only against illegal immigration, we want people to do it the right way".

Now it's "we need to limit the volume" and "don't want to get rid of the truly exceptional immigration".

Forgive me if I am skeptical, especially in a world where ICE is rounding up classic "exceptional" immigrants like biology researchers, or South Korean experts setting up a factory.