The Trump administration announced Friday that H-1B visas will now come with a $100,000 annual fee, but the White House says it will only apply to new visa applicants.
Archived version: https://archive.is/20250920192927/https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/20/donald-trump-h1b-visas-overhaul-00574345
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These visas are used to depress wages. They pay these guest workers less, and can get them deported at the drop of a hat. This might not be that bad of a thing.
I was going to say this too; a rare one of Trump’s policies that seems workable.
There’s supposed to be a rule where H1B permits first require the company to exhaust national hires; but they do this by simply inventing qualifications no one can fill. I don’t know how you can fix that part, but a price tag is good friction.
Still, this leads to trouble for the industries where we really don’t have any local talent. I want to say the federal government could approve exemptions ad hoc, but I doubt anyone would trust them to control that.
Is it not obvious this is just another shake down!?
I think you’re thinking of the PERM labour test, which is for green card, not H1B.
Layoffs are happening. Job numbers were overstated by 911,000. Let’s fix the job market by removing 85,000 workers.
Employers seem to hate wage labor. I look forward to a future where workers keep work done.
It’s a bad thing for america, good for all the countries that have experienced significant poaching of talent by the US, IMO.
How many geniuses from the global south get imported into the US for better wages
How does workers getting paid less become good for the us?
It does not, good for billionaires and america have scant overlap on them. There is nothing good for the us in depressing wages while bosses male record profits.
Re-read what I wrote, it’s beneficial for every other country
It is absolutely not good for the countries they’re from, the talent that could start their own business comes over here, both depressing our wages and preventing homegrown companies from competing.
I think that you and /u/hector@lemmy.today are both right. The effect depends on the quality of talent that gets imported.
Importing top talent gives the US a competitive edge. Importing average people floods the labor market, depressing wages. This increases social division, adding to the profits of the capitalist class, but reducing the purchasing power of the median household.