White House bolsters visa fees to curb foreign labor

The Trump administration added $100,000 in fees to H-1B visa applications, according to a Sunday release from the White House. The change came after a Friday proclamation from President Donald Trump that sought to curb abuses of the program for foreign workers entering the country. If companies don’t want to pay an extra $100,000, then they can hire American workers, Trump said at the Friday signing of the proclamation.

White House Secretary Will Scharf described the H-1B program as the most abused visa system in the American immigration system. The visa is meant to allow highly skilled workers into the country to populate fields Americans don’t, he explained. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick discussed the proclamation’s impact on big tech companies. If they’re going to train somebody, train one of the recent graduates from an American university, he argued.

Will visa holders already in the country be impacted? The proclamation will not apply to any previously issued H-1B visas or applications for H-1B visas submitted before 12:01 a.m. Sunday morning. The new fee is a one-time charge for submitting an H-1B visa and will not impact any other fees or payments for an H-1B renewal, the White House later clarified. Current H-1B holders are still allowed to travel in and out of the United States.

The White House did note several plans to reform the H-1B program, including raising wage levels to ensure that only the best foreign workers are hired under the H-1B program. The Department of Homeland Security will also prioritize non-citizens with higher skills and higher wages in the H-1B lottery, according to the news release. Other reforms are also under consideration and may be announced in the coming months, the White House added.

How are foreign entities responding? Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun refused to comment on the visa change during a Monday press conference. But he did say that mobilizing talent across borders has driven technological progress and international economic development. China welcomes talent from across the world in all Chinese industries, Guo added. 

Dig deeper: Read my previous report about Trump’s $5 million immigration gold card.