Donald Trump’s announcement on Friday that his administration will impose a $100,000 annual fee on H1-B visa applications, which allows foreign laborers in specialty occupations to work in the United States, has sent industries and governments into a spiral of confusion. With the policy set to go into effect Sunday, Big Tech companies are reportedly telling H-1B holders in their workforces to either remain in the United States or return from overseas before the new policy is enacted, according to CNBC.
According to the report, Amazon sent a memo to its employees advising workers on an H-1B or H-4 visa holders (given to dependent family members of H-1B workers) to return from overseas before 12:01 a.m. ET on September 21. Microsoft reportedly sent out a similar message, warning its employees that the Trump administration’s policy is “structured as a travel restriction” and international travel could put their worker status at risk. It advised H-1B visa holders to cancel future travel plans and remain in the US “for the foreseeable future.”
Tech firms are by far the biggest users of the H-1B visa program. Five of the top six employers of H-1B workers are Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Google, according to data from Citizenship and Immigration Services. Under the new rules, which would require either the H-1B visa holder or their sponsor to pay $100,000 annually to keep the work permit active, Amazon could, in theory, be staring down a $1 billion bill every year to keep the more than 10,000 H-1B visa holders it currently employs in its workforce.
But tech is also far from the only industry that counts on specialized labor from overseas. According to the Business Standard, over 30% of medical residents in the United States are international graduates, and between 10,000 to 43,000 residency spots are currently filled by H-1B visa holders. There is an ongoing doctor shortage in the country that was expected to worsen without new restrictions. The Association of American Medical Colleges projected a shortage of 20,200 to 40,400 primary care doctors by 2036, prior to the new H-1B fees.
It’s not just industry players freaking out, either. Foreign governments are scrambling to respond to the new policy, with little lead time to sort through all the details. “This measure is likely to have humanitarian consequences by way of the disruption caused for families. Government hopes that these disruptions can be addressed suitably by the U.S. authorities,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. South Korea’s foreign ministry also said it is sorting out the potential implications for Korean workers, per CNBC.
The Trump administration, as has become customary for its policy prescriptions, is spending the day trying to sort out the ill-defined information it initially provided. Axios reported that officials have clarified the new H-1B visa fees won’t apply to existing holders of valid visas re-entering the country, so workers should be able to get back to the country without getting hit with a $100,000 fee. Reportedly, the fee won’t go into effect until the next cycle of new applicants to the H-1B program. Whether visa holders want to risk taking this administration at its word is another question.
