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Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

(www.reuters.com)
1245 points mriguy | 5 comments | 19 Sep 25 19:59 UTC | HN request time: 0.866s | source
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stephen_cagle ◴[20 Sep 25 01:23 UTC] No.45308942[source]▶
This straight 100k to the top is not a good way to implement this. It should be a percentage (say 50%, we can talk about what the number should actually be) of the total compensation that is being paid to the H1B. We should also just completely remove caps on H1B.

This allows companies that truly want extraordinary talent to pay a premium to acquire it with no red tape . It also makes it far less likely that they can significantly underpay foreign workers to work in the united states and undercut American employees (at a 50% surcharge, you would have to pay 2/3 the prevailing salary to break even (assuming all employees are the same)).

The 50% number is something I made up, I think we can have an honest discussion about what that number should realistically be (and it should probably be different for different industries). But my main point is it should simply be a percentage tax paid on top of all compensation for foreign employees. This is the correct way to balance domestic companies undercutting domestic labor, while allowing them to access genuinely extraordinary talent with no impedance.

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1. wonderwonder ◴[20 Sep 25 01:28 UTC] No.45309000[source]▶
I disagree, why would they then not just hire the H1B at 50k and pay a 25K fee.

100k flat annual fee plus the new minimum 150k salary returns the H1B program to its original purpose of allowing US companies to hire truly exceptional foreign workers who have skills US workers do not. This allows companies to do just that and pay for it and at the same time protects the jobs and job prospects of US workers

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2. stephen_cagle ◴[20 Sep 25 02:15 UTC] No.45309555[source]▶
I'll be honest that I read a different article on the same topic and did not know about the salary floor. So I wasn't thinking about that. I'm... mixed on that, but it does add a wrinkle to the equation.

I prefer a purely compensation relative approach because it let's the market decide what the actual salary for a software engineer is (with a percent of compensation premium for a foreigner and a 0 extra cost for a native). The market can dynamically adjust what a software engineer makes (not fixed price control) but it just cost more to hire foreign people.

In direct response to your first sentence, I think even foreign workers (who largely work harder and have more on the line than domestic workers) would question the wisdom of working for 50k a year as a software engineer in the US. They are actors in this system as well, and you can't just assume that you could offer 50k and get them to accept.

3. abeppu ◴[20 Sep 25 03:09 UTC] No.45309935[source]▶
What's the basis for saying that the "original purpose" was to let companies hire "truly exceptional foreign workers"?

My understanding is that the H-1B was introduced by the 1990 immigration act, where the H-1B is supposed to be for "specialty occupations" other than nursing. But the same act introduced EB-1 and O-1 for people with "extraordinary ability", which sounds a lot closer to your "truly exceptional" understanding. I think maybe you're projecting a purpose onto the program that was never really there. The H-1B quota when it was introduced was 65k, so it's not like it started out being dramatically rarer than it is today.

4. famerica ◴[20 Sep 25 04:13 UTC] No.45310293[source]▶
> new minimum 150k salary

Where did you get this from? It is not in the EO passed today: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/rest...

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5. wonderwonder ◴[20 Sep 25 14:28 UTC] No.45313716[source]▶
You're right it does not say it, I based my statement on what Lutnick said in the office. Looks like the 150k number is from a senate bill that has not passed yet

https://www.newsweek.com/h-1b-visa-change-proposal-2132484