USA TODAY – President Donald Trump introduced a $100,000 annual application fee for special visas that are widely used by technology companies to bring in foreign workers.
Trump also signed an executive order to create a “gold card” for foreigners to pay $1 million to remain in the country permanently, like the residency documents known as “green cards.” He said the price tag would ensure that only the most extraordinary workers would receive them, with companies paying something similar to signing bonus in professional sports.
“It’s going to hopefully bring some great people to our country,” Trump said. “This way a corporation – sort of like a signing bonus in baseball or football – a corporation will be able to get them to stay in the country.”
Trump’s fees are part of his strategy to favor U.S. citizens over foreign workers and comes amid a broader crackdown on immigration, which includes mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and an end to allowing asylum seekers into the country while their cases are pending. The State Department announced in August it would require a $15,000 bond for visa holders, under a new program.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said so-called green cards were granted to 281,000 people per year who earned an average $66,000 and were often likely to go on public assistance. He said the gold card fee would ensure that only the best workers remained permanently.
“It was illogical,” Lutnick said. “We’re going to only take extraordinary people at the very top.”
Lutnick said major tech companies support paying $100,000 per year to sponsor the best workers.
“All of the big companies are on board,” Lutnick said.
The federal government distributes 85,000 H-1B visas a year, mostly for tech jobs, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the agency has already received enough petitions for the year starting Oct. 1. Amazon had more than 10,000 of the visas approved this year, while Microsoft and Meta each had more than 5,000 of the visas approved, according to the agency.
The H-1B visa program is reserved for people who are employed in specialty occupations, frequently in technology, such as software engineers, tech program managers and other IT professionals. The visas are approved for a period of three to six years.
India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, with 71% of approved beneficiaries, according to government data. China was a distant second at 11.7%.
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Critics of the visas, including many American technology workers, argue companies use H-1B visa workers to suppress wages and pass over Americans for jobs.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump offers $1 million ‘gold cards,’ creates $100,000 H-1B visa fee
