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US Narrows Who Pays $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee (wsj.com) 82

Posted by msmash from the work-in-progress dept.
President Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee will apply only to new visa applicants outside the country, the government confirmed in new guidance on Monday. From a report: That means that under the new policy, employers won't need to pay the fee for anyone already living in the U.S., such as international students. The new guidance: Under the new guidance published on Monday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the $100,000 fee will apply only to new applicants living outside the country. Employers will need to pay the fee after their prospective employee's visa is approved, allowing them to move to the U.S.

Previously, the White House had said the fee would apply to all new visa applicants, except those who work for companies or industries that have secured a special waiver. In 2024, roughly 54% of the 141,000 new H-1B visas issued went to immigrants who were already in the U.S. on a different visa type, according to government statistics. If that trend holds, the new fee wouldn't apply to over half of the applicants.
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US Narrows Who Pays $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee More

US Narrows Who Pays $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee

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  • Wages (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Tuesday October 21, 2025 @10:33AM (#65740712)
    The only affect of this is that it will cause companies to complain more loudly about not being able to find people. They will never raise wages or salaries TO find people.

    • Re:Wages (Score:5, Informative)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Tuesday October 21, 2025 @11:04AM (#65740756)

      You buy some Trump shitcoins or a fancy million dollar plate dinner and the fees will get waived. Pardons are an even million. https://thehill.com/homenews/a... [thehill.com]

    • Few Americans are qualified for technical jobs, especially anything involving rigorous mathematics or basic geography.

      • What percentage of H-1Bs are actually qualified for those jobs?

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by ranton ( 36917 )

          What percentage of H-1Bs are actually qualified for those jobs?

          I've never worked with an H-1B candidate who wasn't qualified for the technical work, but then again I've never worked with a US citizen who wasn't qualified either. That's what the hiring process is for. I've worked with H-1Bs and citizens who weren't very good in their specific role, but they were all at least qualified.

          I've also almost never hired an H-1B candidate when there was someone else even remotely qualified for the role in the hiring pipeline. The only exception is when I had worked with an H-1B

          • My leadership career started in 2017, and up until 2023 it had been very hard to find qualified applicants when paying market or slightly above market rates.

            Sounds like the market rate was too low.

            • We have been pushing kids into tech for three decades, and the industry pays higher than every profession other than doctors and arguably lawyers (most law graduates don't make high salaries). The US has most likely saturated how many IT employees it can squeeze out of its citizen base. A good case could be made for improving primary and secondary schooling quality, but that would take decades to see the benefits. Immigration is needed at least until then, and arguably would still be needed.

              The only thing t

          • Have you tried more than slightly above market rates? It is employees that say what market rates are.

            • Paying significantly above market rates can work for a company with high enough profit margins to outcompete other industries, but it can't scale across the economy. We have been pushing people into tech for three decades, and the only professions that make more are doctors and lawyers (arguably your average law graduate makes less than your average software developer). And these professions only make as much as they do because professional organizations restrict access to the professions to keep pay high,

      • I wish this trope would go away. There are a lot of good CS people getting their diplomas at the end of each fall and spring semester. US schools are where the other nations send their students, which is ironic.

        A few years ago, I was tasked with setting up a dev team, with a budget and everything. I could have gone the route of getting a contract place or a body shop... but I was at a career fair for a local university. Got a list of names, chatted with a few profs, found some diamonds in the rough (if

    • The only effect will be people offshoring more work. They won't bother with visas. They'll just move jobs overseas.

      • They have done that with all the ones that could be done already. I'm assuming any domestic worker at this point has to be physically here for some reason. Security is a big one that comes to mind.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by vux984 ( 928602 )

          "I'm assuming any domestic worker at this point has to be physically here for some reason."

          I wouldn't assume that. The reason could simply be that the hiring manager wanted the team member local to make them easier to manage and interact with. Sure it cost more than offshoring them, but the onshoring cost could have been justifiable. Now there's a 100k new reasons to reconsider it.

          There will be cases where they really do need to be physically onsite, security as you suggested being one reason. Having to int

          • Ok well I'm happy to have a job that needs to be done by a domestic employee for the sake of security then. I didn't know it wasn't common.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ranton ( 36917 )

          They have done that with all the ones that could be done already. I'm assuming any domestic worker at this point has to be physically here for some reason. Security is a big one that comes to mind.

          That would be a very poor assumption. Almost all work can be offshored. If the need is high enough, the electorate will even elect people to remove government regulations requiring onshoring. Any job can be offshored. People will travel to other countries to get surgery if the cost difference is high enough. Residential home building and maintenance is a rare exception, but even commercial plumbers can be offshored if the entire business is moved offshore.

          At any time our economy maintains a certain equilibr

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by ranton ( 36917 )

            Oops, I meant to say "net immigration was negative during the housing recession," not that it was necessary.

        • You can believe this if you want, but as others have stated... it's not accurate. I work in support roles - I'm pretty confident that most of the time, the only reason they have US teams is that they want someone who is usually awake during US hours, can be managed by US leadership, and because people don't like swing shifts... but, honestly, there's no need to be *in* the time zone you're working through. I expect that we'll see a decrease in US based jobs, unless policies come into play that provide *ince

          • Yes.. This makes me happy that I have a job that must legally be done in country. As I said above, I had no idea it was so rare.

    • Well, if they didn't expect one person to do five peoples worth of work, and didn't expect unobtainable levels of work experience... maybe they'd find more people.
      I'm not saying, I'm just saying...

  • TACO (Score:5, Informative)

    by Berkyjay ( 1225604 ) on Tuesday October 21, 2025 @10:38AM (#65740722)

    TACO backtracks again.

    • Yep.gif

    • Came here to say the same thing. "...Always Chickens Out"

    • TACO backtracks again.

      He really should wait until Tuesdays for this stuff ... :-)

    • It is Tuesday so it's time for Trump to Always Chicken Out as usual ...

    • It's a negotiating strategy outlined in "The Art of The Deal"...make a big, bold, over-reaching initial claim or ask (way beyond what you actually want), then "settle" back closer to the actual position you wanted in the first place as a "compromise".

      • It's a negotiating strategy outlined in "The Art of The Deal"...make a big, bold, over-reaching initial claim or ask (way beyond what you actually want), then "settle" back closer to the actual position you wanted in the first place as a "compromise".

        It's really not. There is no plan, just a series of impulse-driven changes, shying away from the ones that cause problems that happen fast and are easy to see.

    • TACO backtracks again.

      For the moment, until he randomly lurches in a different directly.

      US policy looks like a drunken toddler staggering in random directions because that's exactly what's happening right now. The toddler bumps his head and lurches away from the pain, but the lesson doesn't stick.

      The only answer for US business leaders right now is exactly what most of them are doing: hunkering down. No hiring, no expansion into other markets or offering new products, and cutting capex and opex wherever possible to build a

    • It's a, commonly used, negotiating tactic.

  • gross incompetence (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ZipNada ( 10152669 ) on Tuesday October 21, 2025 @10:38AM (#65740724)

    "Previously, the White House had said the fee would apply to all new visa applicants", maybe they should have thought things through a little better before slapping on this arbitrary fee. But that isn't how the trump administration rolls, it's everything on a whim. I'll presume that Big Tech paid some hefty bribes to get this modified, plus a sizeable donation to the obscene white house ballroom.

  • Trump can waive the fee at will (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday October 21, 2025 @11:28AM (#65740832)
    And I think we all know what that means.

    • Yup. You can either pay the full 100k to the US Government or instead pay a portion of that 100k (or an equivalent favor/gift) to Trump.

  • Pretty sure you'll find something like 90% of the hires are from US universities, so they are slowly making exceptions to make it not effective. I wouldn't exclude existing people either

  • This is the problem with a single idiot making up the rules on the fly. You can't trust the rules won't change based on the last person he talked to, the last bribe he received, the latest opinion polls, or whether his drug regime was changed.

    Another reason for having actual laws passed by Congress* is that Congress is slow to change them and doesn't like to do so willy-nilly.

    * Not to imply that the GOP Congress is actually capable of passing laws or pushing back on the Executive or standing up for America

  • God damn it, stop watering it down (Score:3)

    by magzteel ( 5013587 ) on Tuesday October 21, 2025 @01:09PM (#65741090)

    H1-B's have been abused by employers for years. Why give H1-B's to international students? Don't we have enough of our own students?

    I want the program to be changed as follows:

    * Companies hiring H1-B's may not lay off American workers for two years before hiring an H1-B through two years after
    * H1-B's must be payed the highest for the position because they are super-special experts with impossible to find expertise
    * H1-B's may change jobs at will
    * Companies hiring an H1-B must have a plan in place to replace them with local hires within two years

    I think with these changes companies will suddenly figure out they can get there needs met locally after all

    • Or they'll just offshore those jobs.

      • Or they'll just offshore those jobs.

        Then nothing is lost, right? But consider if they want to offshore they could have done it already.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by spitzak ( 4019 )

      All you need is your third idea: H1-B's may change jobs at will.

      Your other ones sound difficult or constitutionally questionable to enforce.

      • All you need is your third idea: H1-B's may change jobs at will.

        Your other ones sound difficult or constitutionally questionable to enforce.

        There's no constitutional issue here. The government creates the H1-B program and sets the rules. They certainly didn't intend that H1-B program participants would be able to force their Americans employees to train their H1-B replacements and then be laid off. As for compensation, the current rule says they must be paid "the higher of the prevailing wage or the actual wage for their occupation and location". There's a lot of wiggle room there that enables employers to employ H1-B's at a lower cost.

      • Why would the H-1B change jobs? He's making more in a day than he would make in a month back home. He'll do anything to keep making tons of money and sending it via Western Union back home.
        And, when his H-1B status runs out, his 'advocate' will find some loophole for him to stay as a 'citizen' so he can bring his wife and kids, her "brother and his kids", his "parents and his siblings", and the "advocate" will fill out the paperwork so that the former H-1B gets every single benefit and free thing possible

        • Why would the H-1B change jobs?

          They would change jobs for the same reason everyone else does - more money and better job. Right now they are practically tied to the job so they can be abused.

          • "More money and better job"... of course, that's if they can find one that'll hire them, not to mention that employer sponsored their H-1B, so the new one would have to petition and all that.
            Of course, I never understood how someone from a country that can barely afford running water knows more than someone who grew up here.
            Abused? Like I said, they make more in a day here on the H-1B than they'd make in a month back home.

            • "More money and better job"... of course, that's if they can find one that'll hire them, not to mention that employer sponsored their H-1B, so the new one would have to petition and all that.
              Of course, I never understood how someone from a country that can barely afford running water knows more than someone who grew up here.
              Abused? Like I said, they make more in a day here on the H-1B than they'd make in a month back home.

              I'm not sure why you are arguing this. From the tone you are against H1-B hires, and that's fine. My suggestions for the program are all about making it more costly for the employers. If they know their H1-B hire can leave at will for more money they will be forced to pay more to retain them. After all, these cream of the crop expert specialists with impossible to find skills must be in great demand so the employer will have to pay top dollar to attract and retain them.

  • If you don't like this (Score:3)

    by hey! ( 33014 ) on Tuesday October 21, 2025 @02:05PM (#65741246) Homepage Journal

    wait a week or two and the details will change completely.

    Trump is nothing if not mercurial. His fans will tell you he's playing 11 dimensional chess... I have my doubts, but let's say that's true. The problem is that when it comes to the economy it's not chess. It's more like basketball, and the President is the point guard calling plays, except the play being called keeps changing before the players can execute the last call. It's a tough time to be running a business, you can't plan out more than a couple of weeks.

  • ... living outside the country.

    Rich people can buy a job in the USA: One should pay tuition fees instead and get an education and a job.

    Limiting immigrants to rich people means fewer employees acting like serfs.

    • You mean: pay tuition, get an education and an expensive piece of paper, end up working at McDonalds drive-thru and half a million in debt from all the student loans.
      Corrected that for ya.

  • There are dozens of visas. If one is effectively ended, they will use another. The L-1 can be used in many cases.

    The L-1 visa is a nonimmigrant visa for tech workers who are transferring from a foreign, affiliated office to a U.S. office of the same company.

    So some guy is hired by an Indian staffing firm over in India, the transferred over to the US where he is contracted to work at Microsoft by the same staffing firm. I think MS partners with, at least, one of these firms.

    That is just one loophole, there a

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