Startup founders say Trump’s $100K H-1B fee is a ‘talent tariff’ that will hurt innovation

AI Startup vector founder Amr Audallah had two reactions to hear about the change in the H -1B Visa program Increase the application fee for each visa to $ 100,000The

He was not surprised. But he was disappointed.

“I can’t pay $ 100,000,” Awadallah told TechCrunch. He has appointed an employee in H -1 and the new fee only applies to new applications, he believes that it is very high for many startups and will determine their price beyond recruitment internationally.

H -1B Visa was created to allow companies to appoint skilled talent From the global market for occupations like IT and Engineering. On Friday, Trump announced that the fee paid by the employer usually increased from $ 2,000- $ 5,000 to the application would rise to $ 100,000 per $ 100,000, a change that would be especially felt with the new batch available in March.

Immigration is one of the main issues for President Trump, who has even accused of using the H -3B to get a job from US citizens even after his campaign.

Note that this visa has helped to bring people to a number of millions of dollars to start or operate these visas. Former holders include Google’s beautiful pichai, Microsoft’s true Nadella and Elon mask. Acceptable than Visa and -1 Visa for extraordinary skill and faster than green cards.

“Hypersscale, its impact on competition and innovation of smaller startups than large businesses, will intensify,” said Awadallah. Although Big Tech can easily afford this national fee, he thinks that startups will miss. Out of the price startups, he said, “Very, very negative ways will affect innovation in the long term.”

The technology industry could spend 5.5 billion a year

More than 700,000 People live in the United States in H -1 BAnd they are more than 500,000 dependent with them, such as spouses (who are allowed to work under this visa) and children, according to the FWD.US of Immigration and Criminal Judgment. Indian citizens are The largest recipient of the visa, According to US citizenship and immigration services after China and other parts of the world.

Only 85,000 new people can get visas a year (20,000 of them must have just graduated from a US university), and claim more than receiving, so H -1BS is randomly allocated, in the lottery held in March. There are technology companies For a few years of growth At the annual H -1B limit.

Critics have complained that these companies are using H -1 residents to replace H -1 residents with low -pay employees from abroad. Others say it exploits foreign workers, because the visa is bound with the employer, so workers cannot easily change their jobs and if they lose their jobs they face exile.

People who support visa fees said it could remove the lottery because the costs are so high now that employers will limit their appeals.

According to Business Marketplace Design Rush Sharing Data with TechCrunch, about 55,000 new H -1B visas issued every year go to about 55,000 computer related jobs. Previously, the total cost of recruiting these workers was reduced from $ 200 million to $ 400 million, but according to the new fee, the technology industry will spend 5.5 billion a year to hire H -1B technicians.

Under the proposed change, minimum pay employers must pay to the recipient of H -1B, a change in helping US citizen worker’s salary reduction.

However, many questions are still weaving. For example, immigration lawyer working with startups Sophie Alcorn said it was unclear whether an application would be returned to a $ 100,000 provider if any application was denied. As the price raising on Friday is technically effective, the visa petitions currently reviewed are also unclear whether it is subject to it.

“It is forcing us to break, hopefully, temporarily, numerous H -1B petitions for ambitious founders,” he said. “We’re waiting for further direction.”

“It makes me a kind of sadness”

The founder of Silicon Valley says they look worldwide because there is a Technical talent deficit in the United StatesEspecially for skills like AI engineering.

The AI ​​Company’s recurrence co-founder and CTO Brian Sathianathan Visa has a handful of employees and gives a visa for its previous successful startup departure.

“My last company I was co -founded and sold, my co -founder was an H -1B visa. My engineering chief was H -1B Visa,” said Sathianathan. “This would not have been possible for the visa application, with such high fees.”

Other founders warned that the fee sent a signal that foreign talent may not be welcome.

The impact on the competition and innovation of short startups than the larger businesses, the larger business, will intensify.

Hemant Mohapatra, a India -based partners in the Lightspeed Venture Partners, has been in H -1 for almost 15 years. He said that expensive barriers for technology-worker visas may go away US startup ecosystem is an innovation interval Because a large percentage of Unicorn and Decakorn is actually founded by immigrants.

Many times he said that people were brought to the United States on H -1B Visa to start their own US companies. Sometimes, their children grow up to be founder.

This is the experience of Jeffrey Wang, co -founder of the AI ​​Company, although some of his workers received H -1B visas from previous employers, Wang’s parents moved to the United States as a H -1B recipient.

He told TechCrunch, “I heard the news and that made me somehow sad.” “I think people like my parents will no longer be able to come to America.”

The Trump administration says the visa change was to protect national interest, but Wang believes that the best talent in the United States helps protect the country. As a race of immigrants, almost every important engineering or scientific achievement in the United States is involved with immigrants, he said.

Startups explore their options

Our startups are shaking now. Some want the exception of engraving for startups. The administration has said that a discount was possible for national interest.

Meanwhile, the visa consultation agency told Sisiam TechCrunch that it was increased to more than 50% of the early stages by looking at it O -1 visa (though spouses could not work on this visa). Next phase companies look at the EB-1A visa, usually given to the people at the top of their field and the spouse is allowed to work.

I think people like my parents will no longer be able to come to America.

Jack Thorogood, chief executive officer and founder of the Native Party of Pay Roll Company, says his company has increased 50% to the exploration of visa-free global recruitment, such as international remote work.

Native parties, which work with more than 5,700 companies in 5 countries, say that an H -1B fare will now equate 20 remote fares in many other countries.

He believes that our startups will only start keeping outsourcing talents or their staff abroad. Thorogood said, “It will not be expensive to get talent in any way abroad.”

Markets such as Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom are already increasing Tech Hubs as a landing spot for international office opening companies.

“If America is increasing the obstacle, the UK and others should adapt to the amazing talent existing from all corners of the world according to” UK-based Unicorn Marshmalo CEO and co-founder Oliver Kent-Brahram Techchen.

AI Founder and Professor Daniel Wigdor of Toronto University has agreed that Changing Visa Fees was not a good step for the United States

“Instead of competing for the best in the world, they are testing how much the companies will pay for their imports,” he said. “This position can be played natively, but it has taken the risk of reducing American global technology domination.”