Federal judge voids Trump’s $100,000 fee requirement for H-1B visas | CNN Politics
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A federal judge on Monday voided President Donald Trump’s requirement of a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas, ruling that he lacked authority to impose the new policy for a program used by companies to hire highly skilled foreign workers in specialized fields.
  • ilinamorato
    1·
    2 days ago

    I just realized I didn’t address the three year limit. Sure, they’re only saving $50k over the term of the visa now. But they’re gambling that the visa situation will be more favorable in three years, or that the job market will be in such shambles that they can afford to cut pay across the board, or replace people with AI, or whatever. It doesn’t just save them $50k, it lets them defer that cost for three years, which is three years that money can be earning interest for them. Plus, if they write it down as compliance or governmental fees or whatever, I believe there are beneficial tax implications.

    • testfactor
      1·
      2 days ago

      It’s an up front $100k though. It’s also a gamble in the other direction that the person stays the whole three years, which definitely isn’t guaranteed.

      As to your point about mom and pop shops wanting to bring over family, that’s not what H1-B visas are for. There are other ways to come to the US and naturalize without an H1-B visa.

      Small companies don’t currently bring people on with H1-B visas (pre the $100k tax), because it’s easier to bring over family and friends on other visa vehicles. They are iced out of that process, $100k tax or no.

      H1-B is designed directly for big businesses to pull in top talent from overseas, but is being abused to pull in huge amounts of cheap labor. So adding fees and restrictions to that only impacts big businesses.