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

(www.reuters.com)
1195 points mriguy | 2 comments | 19 Sep 25 19:59 UTC | HN request time: 0.413s | source
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guyzero ◴[19 Sep 25 21:21 UTC] No.45306779[source]▶
Everyone in these threads always points out all sorts of issues with the H1B system, which are mostly true, but it's not like there's a suggestion for a replacement here. This is a de facto shutdown of the program, not a reform. I'd be happy to see a reformed skilled immigration program for the US, but this isn't it.

The US makes up about 4.5% of the global population and it seems silly to think that the FAANG companies and the new AI startups chasing behind them are going to restrict their hiring to this tiny slice of the global talent pool.

The only effect this is going to have is accelerating the offshoring of jobs through more hiring in India, Europe and Canada, which is a net loss for the US.

I myself became a US citizen two years ago after being on a H1B. I was paid the same as all my peers and for all its shortcomings the program worked for me. It stunning to think this has been closed off, killing the main path for skilled immigration into the US.

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1. kristopolous ◴[20 Sep 25 05:39 UTC] No.45310714[source]▶
In this supposed competition with China, Trump is deeply dedicated to giving China every advantage possible.

From defunding science, fining the biggest universities, defunding green energy, making hiring ambitious foreign workers economically unfeasible, replacing technocratic administrators with incompetent lackies with quite literally zero experience, imposing inordinate tariffs ... It's just win after win for the CCP.

Couldn't possibly be more generous

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2. mrtksn ◴[20 Sep 25 09:22 UTC] No.45311751[source]▶
Yes, but all these things will have bad long-term effects. The short-term effect would be payment into the federal budget and increase in local employment.

Even with tariffs, the initial effect was to increase purchases before the tariffs hit. Later the companies started eating from their margins instead of increasing prices right away. So it all resulted in increased economic activity and then increased tax payments into the federal government. However, because this is tax on consumption, it will eventually reduce business profits and personal wealth of the consumers. Meanwhile, Trump can claim that the economy is booming and he is collecting huge tax revenues without any negative effects.