Trump gives a fee of $ 100,000 for a qualified work visa candidates

US President Donald Trump has signed an enforcement order that will add an annual fee for $ 100,000 (£ 74,000) for the candidates for the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers.

Trump’s order mentions the “abuse” of the program and will limit the entry unless payment is made.

Critics have long claimed that H -1bs undercut US workforce while supporters – including billionaire Elon Musk – claim it allows the United States to attract top talents from around the world.

In another line, Trump has created a new “gold card” of visas to quickly track certain immigrants in exchange for a fees starting at £ 1 million.

Trump’s order must enter into force on September 21. This will only apply to new requests, but companies will have to pay the same amount for each candidate for six years, said US secretary of trade Howard Luni.

“The company has to decide … is valuable enough to have $ 100,000 a year to the government or has to go home and they have to hire an American,” he said, adding, “All big companies are on board.”

Since 2004, the number of H-1B applications has been limited to 85,000 per year.

So far, the H-1B visas have carried various administrative fees for a total value of about $ 1,500.

Data from US Civil and Immigration Services (USCIS) show that applications for H-1B visas for the next fiscal year have fallen to about 359,000 per four-year minimum.

The largest beneficiary of the program, which the previous fiscal year was Amazon, followed by technology giants TATA, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google, according to government statistics.

Tahmina Watson, the founder of the Watson Immigration Act, told the BBC that the decision could be a “nail in the ark” for many of its customers, which are mostly small businesses and start -ups.

“Almost everyone will be priced. These $ 100,000 as an entry point will have a detrimental impact,” she added, noting that very small or medium -sized companies will tell you that they can’t really find workers to do the job. ”

“When employers sponsor foreign talents, more often than not, they do this because they have not been able to fulfill these positions,” added G -Watson.

Jorge Lopez, chairman of the Immigration and Global Mobility Practice Group at PC Littler Mendelson, said a $ 100,000 fee “will put the brakes for US competitiveness in the technology sector and all industries.”

Some companies may consider creating operations outside the US, although this may be a challenge, he added.

The debate on H-1bs earlier sparked splits in the team and supporters of Trump, digging those in favor of visas against critics such as former strategist Steve Bannon.

Trump told the White House reporters in January that he understood “both sides of the dispute” of H-1bs.

Last year – as it seeks to attract support from the technology industry while it was on the campaign path – Trump swore to facilitate the process of attracting talents, reaching out to offer green cards for graduates.

“You need a set of people to work for companies,” he told the Podquast All-in. “You must be able to recruit these people and hold these people.”

At the beginning of his first term in 2017, Trump signed an enforcement order that increased the control of H-1B applications, striving to improve detection of fraud.

The rejections increased to the highest 24% in the fiscal year 2018, compared to between 5% and 8% at Barack Obama and then between 2% and 4% in Joe Biden.

At that time, the technology companies withdrew, criticizing the Trump administration’s H-1B order.

The potential for additional H-1B program restrictions has caused considerable concern In countries like India – Which is the largest country source for such visa applications.