Key Points
- Major U.S. business groups are opposing President Trump’s new $100,000 H-1B visa fee.
- They warn that the fee will harm the U.S. economy by making it harder to hire skilled foreign workers.
- The letter is a rare public criticism of the Trump administration from the business community.
- The groups argue that the policy will harm U.S. leadership in key sectors, such as AI. The new fee is also facing a legal challenge from the healthcare industry.
A coalition of major U.S. business groups is warning President Trump that his new, jaw-dropping $100,000 fee for H-1B skilled worker visas will harm the U.S. economy. In a letter sent to the president on Friday, the groups urged the administration to reconsider the policy, stating that it threatens a crucial talent pipeline and will leave critical jobs unfilled.
The letter, a rare public rebuke of the new administration from the business community, was signed by approximately a dozen industry organizations representing a diverse range of sectors, including chipmakers, software companies, and retailers. They argued that the new fee will create “significant challenges” for U.S. employers trying to recruit and retain top talent from around the world.
President Trump announced the new fee last month, framing it as a way to crack down on abuses in the program and push companies to hire more American workers. However, business groups argue that the move will harm the country’s competitiveness, particularly in cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence and biomedical engineering.
Companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Walmart have relied on the H-1B program for years to fill high-skilled positions. The new fee threatens to disrupt this talent pipeline, and the groups warned it could harm the administration’s own goals of boosting U.S. manufacturing and AI leadership.
The new policy is also facing its first legal challenge, as a nurse-staffing agency and several unions have filed a lawsuit to block the fee, arguing that it will exacerbate doctor shortages in rural areas.
