Posted on 10/20/2025 3:14:12 PM PDT by KingofZion
Major employers that historically have hired large numbers of H-1B employees have begun disqualifying job seekers who require H-1B visa sponsorship since President Donald Trump used his executive power to impose a new $100,000 fee on applications for the work visa.
Silicon Valley and tech leaders have been split over the policy, with some arguing the fee would hurt innovation as many startups won’t be able to hire top talent and others saying they are willing to pay it to get the best workers.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the fee is meant to encourage companies to turn to American workers instead of foreign workers, and ensure those entering on this visa are only the “top, top people.”
Still, other tech giants, notably, the Silicon Valley-based semiconductor and computing company Nvidia, have vowed to continue to apply for H-1Bs.
The new visa fee could dramatically reshape how American companies hire, recruit and train talent. Already, some companies appear to be pivoting to recruiting American workers although many other tech executives reiterated a commitment to facilitating immigration of skilled workers.
The policy is being challenged in court by a coalition of organizations.
Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, responded to a request for comment by stating that this policy “gives certainty to American businesses who actually want to bring high-skilled workers into our great country but have been trampled on by abuses of the system.”
“President Trump promised to put American workers first, and this commonsense action does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages,” Rogers wrote in a statement. “Americans have many reasons to celebrate this unprecedented action by President Trump to protect Americans from cheap, foreign labor.”
***MORE
(Excerpt) Read more at sfchronicle.com ...
That’s a shame.
I don’t know that I care.
Silicon Valley is a huge rats nest of wokeism. On the one side it is a slight big offensive to see a massive tech company replace an American worker with a foreign one. But that is the contradiction.
These American workers support being replaced; it’s a suicidal viewpoint.
On the other side, letting them punish themselves by proxy punishes us all.
In the mean time, everybody who opposes big tech wokeism keeps feeding big tech their money, so the beast stays fat and fed.
It’s just lose-lose-lose no matter how you cut the cake. We need a good Dylan Mulvaneyism against big tech but that will never happen, I am afraid. Nobody wants to get involved.
Only 1 Indian company is saying they will not hire H1Bs. All American companies like Google, META, NVDA, etc. are saying they will continue to.
How many years of experience do you have with Silicon Valley engineers?
I have 3 DECADES of experience working here in the SV. I can guarantee you that American workers here DO NOT support "being replaced".
(Some of the most ridiculous bull-squirt I read on the subject is here on FR. It's truly pathetic.)
Supposedly American corporations hiring foreigners has been a serious problem for decades. Some of our top university graduates can’t even get interviews.
The fee needs to be higher and annually applied to get rid of the demon worshipping invaders from India and spies from china
$100k is too much. That makes our workers cheaper?
It will be up to President Trump to severely curb the H-1B. The proposal of a one-time $100,000 fee will do NOTHING to stop it. That fee can be spread over a 6 year period, so basically the corporations can hire H-1Bs for $16,000 less per year (100,000 / 6) to easily make up the difference.
It's not supposed, its by design, the vast, vast majority of H-1B visa workers are indentured servants.
MBA types hate working with people who are smarter than they are, and really hate it when these same people make as much if not more than they do.
H-1B visa workers satisfies a middle manager's need to feel superior to his reports.
The h1b visa program should be terminated.
It’s immoral to strip mine needed human capital from foreign countries.
More importantly it’s immoral to do so because you don’t want to pay American engineers a fair compensation.
Don't you think 100k per applicant is worth protecting our IT infrastructure, especially when so many capable (and often it is much more capable) Americans can fill these roles ?
It is no accident that the CEOs of Google, Microsoft, and IBM are dual US/Indian citizens.
The plan of the left has always been to take away any opportunities for American men (IT is dominated by men) to render them politically inconsequential.
Go back a few years. US Tech Workers had paid for anti-H1B advertising at SF Muni stations. There were SF Tech workers on Twitter who were raging against US Tech Workers billboards at the time.
The valley is woke enough have a suicidal viewpoint.
Santa Clara Valley went for Kamala Harris by just under 70%; Trump didn’t even crack 30. They also voted for “eyes” Schiff at like 70%.
The arrogance of any of these leftists would be “not my job” but its alright if its someone else’s getting replaced.
Further, that you happen to be employed at some company that is the exception to the rule there in Silicon Valley which supports MAGA and is comprised of that small 30% does not change the hard facts, and there’s nothing more ridiculous in here right now than your assertions based off of some overwhelmingly minority position.
Its a simple math concept. If a company has room for 100 employees and only 80 are actual Americans then 20 have been replaced and this is exactly what those around you in the 70% do happily support as long as it is not “their” job personally being lost, “I gots mine”. It just is. Water is wet and 20 jobs out of 100 have been replaced. Gravity brings objects downward. These are the simple truths of life.
You can look at the results I linked at the top of this reply.
The fee is on the company willing to import h1b visa holders.
The corporations like it because they can just call to have the worker’s visa cancelled anytime they wish.
Plus the corps pay them less
Exactly. Several years ago, it was reported that some H1B employees sign contracts agreeing to pay their employers a large amount of money if they leave the company. So, those workers are so desperate to come here, they would gladly take a pay cut.
Politicians, including Trump, are too afraid to put an end to the H1B program. Trump himself started speaking highly of the H1B program when he first took office this time around. AFAIK, he still hasn’t even mentioned the border patrol agent who was shot and killed in Maine back in January by a German national reportedly here on H1B visa.
These companies are just upset they won’t have as many foreigners they can pay slave wages to, which will affect their bottom line.
but... but... if they were the best, the price shouldn’t matter, right?
“Top talent” gets over a million in their pay and benefits packages. Another 100k is a small fee for true top talent.
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