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

(www.reuters.com)
1245 points mriguy | 3 comments | 19 Sep 25 19:59 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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bhouston ◴[20 Sep 25 01:12 UTC] No.45308820[source]▶
This is actually smart. Many H1B visas are used to undermine fair labor wages for already local talent. We should ensure that H1B visas are for actual unique talent and not just to undercut local wages.

H1B is ripe with abuse - this article by Bloomberg says that half of all H1-B visas are used by Indian staffing firms that pay significantly lower than the US laborers they are replacing:

- https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-h1b-visa-middlemen-c...

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huevosabio ◴[20 Sep 25 01:36 UTC] No.45309096[source]▶
Strong disagree. This is a dumb move in that the US wins wins when people move to the US, especially young, skilled people.

There are big issues with the h1b, particularly how strongly tied to the employer the employee is and how few of these we give away. But this basically closes the door for hiring foreign talent to anyone but BigCo.

It is a sad shotgun shell on the right foot on a long streak of the US feet shooting it's way out of relevance.

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fastball ◴[20 Sep 25 01:38 UTC] No.45309128[source]▶
Student visas still exist. O1 visas still exist. Other routes I can't remember off the top of my head exist. The door is not closed. Indeed, even H1B visas still exist, assuming that young talented person is worth $100k more than a US citizen.

> the US wins wins when people move to the US, especially young, skilled people.

I personally lean towards this being true, but it is a claim that needs to be demonstrated comprehensively for your argument to hold water. It is not trivially true.

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adgjlsfhk1 ◴[20 Sep 25 01:47 UTC] No.45309265[source]▶
you know what's really stupid? when we give someone a student visa and then don't have a easy to keep them in the country on a work visa
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1. fastball ◴[20 Sep 25 01:48 UTC] No.45309280[source]▶
Indeed, though if you make that route too easy (or with limited oversight), you end up with diploma mills that aren't actually educating anyone. Incentives are hard to align well.
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2. marticode ◴[20 Sep 25 03:05 UTC] No.45309903[source]▶
It wouldn't be hard to select and accredit at least the better universities. Giving an automatic work visa to every foreign Ivy graduate should be a no-brainier. You could take the top 30% or 50% ranked US News universities and accredit those, or some similar heuristics.
3. ahmeneeroe-v2 ◴[20 Sep 25 03:21 UTC] No.45310022[source]▶
Great point, and since the post-graduation right to work is already a thing I believe this has already happened