Federal judge voids Trump’s $100,000 fee requirement for H-1B visas | CNN Politics
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A federal judge on Monday voided President Donald Trump’s requirement of a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas, ruling that he lacked authority to impose the new policy for a program used by companies to hire highly skilled foreign workers in specialized fields.
  • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
    38·
    3 days ago

    I’m not commenting on any other changes to the process that they may or may not have made. I think that the idea of attaching an additional fee to H1B visas (or their equivalents) is a good idea. We shouldn’t be facilitating companies bringing in cheaper overseas workers, and attaching a hefty fee is one way to shift the economics of that back towards domestic workers.

    If I say “Sandwiches are a good idea” that doesn’t mean I’m in favor of going to Strychnine Joe’s, Home of the Deadly Poison Sub. A good idea can still be implemented badly. That doesn’t stop the idea itself from being good.

    • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
      9·
      3 days ago

      I just said, in the very comment you’re replying to, that an additional fee doesn’t do that. Even if the goal is a good one, this isn’t an effective way to do it. $100,000 is a pittance to any company big enough to be importing overseas labor in the first place. Even if it wasn’t, it’s absolutely worth it for them to pay $100k now in exchange for getting a $50k per year discount on labor for that role.

      • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
        22·
        3 days ago

        Charging them $100,000 is objectively better than charging them nothing. You’re not actually making a point here, you’re just quibbling over details.

        • Sanguine@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          51·
          3 days ago

          The details are really all that matter. If the thing you support doesn’t have the impact, and worse causes a serious defect in the process, then what exactly are you holding onto?

        • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
          2·
          3 days ago

          Is it, though? If the big companies causing this problem are just ignoring the cost, and the small companies that might actually need to bring people in from overseas for legitimate reasons can’t afford to pay it, is it doing more good than harm?

          There’s an Ethiopian restaurant in my old neighborhood that was very clearly run by a couple who used it as a way to get their cousins and friends out of Ethiopia in the '80s and '90s. They wouldn’t be able to do that with a $100,000 visa fee; that’s more than the restaurant makes in a year, after expenses.

          And I’ve known a couple of people who have some very specific, very niche skill sets that aren’t taught at trade schools in the US; skills like scientific glassblowing, which small companies disproportionately need more than big companies. When the previous guy retires from the job, the company has to decide whether to outsource the production, hire someone to move from overseas, or exit a product line entirely (maybe going out of business in the process). When a $100,000 visa fee is introduced, their options are decreased by one. When there are also insane tariffs, their options decrease even further.

          So no, I’d argue that charging them $100,000 is objectively worse than charging them nothing. It doesn’t harm the companies that are abusing the system, and it harms or even kills the companies for whom the H1B was originally created.