US President Donald Trump raised the annual fee for H-1B visas for high-tech foreign workers to $100,000 on Friday. The move is aimed at protecting American jobs and encouraging companies to hire locally.
Trump signed a proclamation introducing the Gold Card visa program, including Trump Gold, Platinum, and Corporate Gold Cards. These are meant to replace traditional employment-based visas for skilled workers, professors, scientists, artists, and athletes. The administration said the new system ensures companies can still hire “truly extraordinary people.”
The H-1B visa program allows foreign professionals in specialty jobs, mainly in technology, to work in the US for three years, renewable for another three. The fee hike could significantly affect Indian tech workers, who receive most of these visas.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has caused a stir with his mixed statements. In December, he praised the H-1B system for helping him and critical employees build his companies. Hours later, he called the program “broken” and called for major reforms, including higher salaries and yearly costs to make hiring foreign workers more expensive than hiring Americans.
The Trump administration says the fee increase incentivizes hiring American workers while still allowing companies access to top global talent.
