US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has criticised the proposed $100,000 fee on H-1B visas, warning that the move could push highly skilled workers away from the US and encourage companies to offshore jobs .
The move drew criticism from businesses and immigration advocates, who warned that the steep cost could make it harder for US companies to recruit highly skilled foreign workers. He stressed that the issue was not limited to workers from any particular country, saying it would affect people from India , China , Sweden and elsewhere. President Trump had issued a proclamation in September last year imposing the $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications. Krishnamoorthi said the fee would effectively act as a ‘$100,000 tax’ on a group of workers who fill some of the most specialised technical roles in the US economy.
“These people … fill some of the most exquisite technical roles in our economy,” Krishnamoorthi said on a podcast, adding that many H-1B workers had gone on to incubate companies that employ hundreds and thousands of people.
In July this year, a US federal appeals court refused to stay a lower court ruling that struck down the Trump administration’s decision to impose a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas . A three-judge bench of the Boston-based First Circuit Court of Appeals denied the federal government’s request to pause US District Judge Leo T Sorokin’s June 8 ruling, which found the fee to be an unlawful tax not authorised by Congress.
“These companies are not going to just sit by and not do the work,” he said, warning that the policy could increasingly lead businesses to move work overseas rather than absorb the higher cost of hiring H-1B workers.
