Posted on 09/25/2025 9:03:25 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
US President Donald Trump's new $100,000 ( £74,000) visa fee for foreign workers has drawn sharp criticism from the global tech community, triggering confusion at airports, concerns of brain drain, and growing fears that the policy could derail American innovation.
In a wave of social media condemnation over the weekend, tech executives, startup founders, and economists expressed dismay over the hefty cost attached to H-1B visa applications—used predominantly by major tech employers such as Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft to hire highly skilled workers from abroad.
While the White House scrambled to clarify the policy late Friday, the initial announcement sent shockwaves through U.S. airports and immigration forums, with some travelers choosing to disembark planes or cancel plans to avoid uncertainty at the border.
Tech Leaders Decry 'Anti-Innovation' Policy
'America's edge has always been that we attract smart, ambitious people from everywhere,' said Esther Crawford, a former Twitter executive now at Meta. 'High-skilled immigrants don't take from us, they build with us. Some of the best colleagues in my career have been H-1B holders chasing their own American dream.'
The new policy, introduced with little advance notice, imposes a one-time $100,000 (£74,000) fee for H-1B applications by U.S. companies, according to the Trump administration. Although the White House later clarified the fee would not be charged annually and would not apply to existing visa holders, many critics argue the damage has already been done.
'My heart goes out to all the families and individuals anxious over their futures following the abrupt and chaotic announcement of H-1B visa changes,' wrote Andrew Ng, founder of DeepLearningAI, in a LinkedIn post. 'America should be working to attract more skilled talent, not create uncertainty that turns them away.'
According to economists at Berenberg, the policy may deepen structural weaknesses in the U.S. labour market, which has yet to fully recover from Trump-era trade disruptions.
'By making it very expensive for companies to attract foreign talent, and by forcing some international students to leave the country after graduation, the brain drain will weigh heavily on productivity,' the analysts warned in a research note.
They also cautioned that while artificial intelligence may offer efficiency gains, it cannot fully offset the rising costs and talent shortages many firms face.
David Seidman, head of platform security at fintech firm Plaid, predicted the decision would push big tech companies to relocate jobs abroad. 'At least one of the Big Tech names will stop hiring for those jobs in the United States and build out their footprint in India or Canada,' he said.
The sudden announcement triggered panic among international travelers. Some chose to delay departures, while others raced home after being advised by employers that the rule might affect re-entry or employment status.
White House officials, caught off-guard by the backlash, were forced to clarify within hours that the visa fee would apply only once per worker and not affect current visa holders.
Still, the confusion stoked anxiety and frustration. For international graduates hoping to remain in the U.S. after completing degrees in fields like computer science or engineering, the rule poses a new financial and bureaucratic barrier.
While most in the tech sector were alarmed, a handful of business leaders offered support for the move. IBM Vice Chairman Gary Cohn, who served in Trump's first administration, said the fee was 'a good idea' that would help screen applicants for high-value positions.
Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings echoed that sentiment, writing on X that the higher cost would ensure visas are reserved for 'very high value jobs' and create more predictability for workers who secure them.
Yet critics say that framing misses the broader implications for startups, universities, and emerging tech ecosystems that rely on global mobility.
The visa decision comes as Trump walks a tightrope between his nationalist rhetoric and the demands of Silicon Valley—a sector that donated generously to his re-election campaign. With the 2026 election cycle nearing, the policy risks alienating a powerful donor base while also igniting global concern about America's role as a tech and innovation leader.
For now, the backlash shows no signs of fading. As Esther Crawford put it: 'This isn't just about money. It's about who we are as a country.'
“...fears that the policy could derail American innovation...”
If the innovation is dependent upon H-1B holders then it is not, strictly speaking, American.
It would stop the brain drain from all the countries whose workers come here and send half their salaries back home. That is one reason why the foreigners are angry. Not only do we give them governmental foreign aid, but our companies give them foreign aid. The American companies pay less to foreigners than they would to Americans, and our workers need welfare.
It ain’t just the illegals draining us.
I can’t disagree with this move.
Most of these H1Bs are NOT highly and uniquely skilled workers.
They are cheaper substitutions for American workers.
“hire highly skilled workers from abroad” = “hire cheap workers from abroad”
Pick one:
- H1B recipients are highly skilled compared to Americans with similar college degrees
- The American taxpayer should be on the hook for student loan debt
There is no possible “brain drain” by having prospective H-1Bs not come here, or go back to their home countries.
🔝🔝🔝
I remember Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s lament that India was losing its best minds to overseas’ benefit...
Run of the mill engineers in in demand specialties are getting. a $50K hiring bonuses and it's only going to get worse as Trumps economic program ramps up.
If these were such high quality tech leaders and innovators India should be a tech leader in the world. And they are not. Fact. Please explain that one?
Corporate America always complains that they don’t have enough qualified trained workers to do all the work they need to get done. That’s an excuse to bring in workers from overseas to add supply to the labor market and bring down wages, salaries, and training costs for Americans.
When they really have a shortage of workers to get important work done, they train Americans to do that work, and they usually train them rather quickly. I was a software developer for a number of years after working in financial management for a long time, and the H1B software developers that I worked with were generally not quite as good as American developers, but they were cheaper. There were times when I had to fix bugs and bad design in their software code, because they were inexperienced with that software and/or lacked attention to detail and quality.
Software development is a tricky skill to teach, but when US companies really need to get some software written, they can train people who know other software languages to learn a new language and handle the simpler coding tasks. They can train people to do skilled manufacturing jobs like machining and skilled assembly work when they really want to get something done. In World War II, we trained hundreds of thousands of unskilled people to do machining and assembly of military vehicles and aircraft, and trained them very quickly...and they did a great job overall. There are some good videos about incredible WWII manufacturing achievements over on YouTube.
There are some really brilliant PhDs from overseas that we want to bring into America, and if they’re truly brilliant and highly productive, then their US employer or sponsor will be willing to pay a one-time fee (or most of the fee) to bring them here. That said, $100K is a rather steep fee and not many employers will want to pay that because they can’t be sure they’ll retain that highly qualified employee. So I think the Trump Admin is going to have to bring that fee down to something employers and HIB workers, each paying part of the fee, are willing to pay. That’s more like $25K to $40K, and that’s probably where this fee ends up a year from now. But don’t worry about Corporate America. They’ll get all the work done that they really need to get done, with or without H1B workers. This is just a bunch of corporate bitching and complaining to get more workers at much lower wages and salaries.
Perhaps Trumps strategy is that $100K is too much for companies to pay for run of the mill replacement workers brought in to cut wage costs but not too much to pay for those truly exceptional and brilliant in their field.
Should be $1,000,000/year.
I hate every single IT person, foreign or domestic.
If an American “with a brain” moves to “The tiny island of Togo”, he would be charged an entrance fee, plus another fee to prove that he could contribute to society, and not retire and be a burden on community services.
You're absolutely right, Esther.
We're not India, so they can stay home and let the Americans keep it American.
Apollo Mission Control, July 1969
How did we ever do it without them?!
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