A break down of the H-1B changes — and why more changes could come

A few weeks ago, President Trump announced the application fee for an H-1B visa would increase to $10,000. The price tag sent shock waves through, especially the tech ecosystem, which heavily utilizes the visa to bring talent in from other countries. 

On this week’s Equity, we sat down with Jeremy Neufeld, the director of immigration policy at the Institute for Progress, to talk about the visa changes, what it means, and why it’s happening. 

He said the intention of the visa change makes sense, but the implementation of it has “left a lot to be desired.”  

“Some of the proposals that they’ve ended up settling on have either loopholes or they’re prioritizing the wrong thing,” he said. As a result, he said, the visa changes will probably have the reverse effect than what the Trump administration intended. “It’s going to be a big tax on us bringing in top researchers from around the world.” 

But for all the sticker shock, there are a lot of people in support of the visa changes. Neufeld said it makes sense to make sure that the 85,000 open H-1B visa slots are actually going to valuable workers and that it makes sense to charge a fee to ensure that only the best are applying — and receiving the visa. 

He also spoke about the allegations that companies were abusing the visa. But again, he said, there are loopholes in the changes that are hard to ignore. 

Elsewhere in the conversation, we spoke about the other changes made to the visa, such as the required wage levels. We pondered the Trump Administration’s reasons for changing the visa and what the odds of more changes to the visa occurring before its lottery in the spring. Neufeld also spoke about what impact this will have on the global tech scene and hiring.

“I think many people are going to be deterred from coming to the United States,” he said. 

Overall, there are many uncertainties regarding nearly every aspect of this visa change. Right now, he said, the changes are in a “notice and comment period,” where it is accepting feedback from members of the public. Given the reactions to the change, even more could be coming.