The shock of the $ 100,000 shock in Trump inserts total chaos into the existing H-1B process with essentially a day of Noti

Friday, the president, with the secretary of commerce, Howard Lunick, signed a proclamation which will require the new costs for what are called H -1B visas – intended for highly qualified jobs that technological companies have trouble filling.

“Those who already have H-1B visa and who are currently outside the country will not be billed at $ 100,000 to return,” said the press secretary of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, in an assignment on X. “This only applies to visas of new visas, not to renewals, and not to current visa holders.”

The costs take effect at 12:01 p.m. on Sunday. He must expire after a year. But it could be extended if the government determines that it is in the interest of the United States to keep it.

The White House in an article on social networks also sought to clearly indicate that the new rule “has no impact on the capacity of a current visa holder to go to the United States”

But immigration lawyers said that the White House move threatened to upset the lives of many skilled workers and has a large -scale impact on American affairs.

Kathleen Campbell Walker, an immigration lawyer at Dickinson Wright based in El Paso, Texas, declared in an assignment on LinkedIn that the moving of the White House “inserts total chaos into the existing H-1B process with a day notice”.

Lutnick told journalists on Friday that the costs would be an annual cost for businesses.

But a White House official said on Saturday that it was a “single cost”. When he was asked if the comments of Lutnick had sowed confusion, the manager, who was not authorized to comment on the issue publicly and spoke of the state of anonymity, said that new costs “do not currently apply to renewals, but this policy is under discussion”.

Meanwhile, the Indian government spoke on Saturday that the Trump administration’s decision considerably increases the visa costs that bring technological workers from there and other countries in the United States.

Trump also deployed a “gold card” visa of $ 1 million for rich people. The movements are faced with legal challenges almost determined in the midst of generalized criticism, the congress is avoided.

To be sure, if the movements survive legal hunting, they will provide narcotic price increases. Visa fees for qualified workers drop from $ 215.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday that Trump’s plan “was studied by all those concerned, including by the Indian industry.” The ministry warned that “this measure is likely to have humanitarian consequences through the disruption caused by families. The government hopes that these disturbances can be approached appropriately by the American authorities.”

Over 70% of H-1B visa holders are from India.

Critics say H-1B visas have undermined American workers

H-1B visas, which require at least one baccalaureate, are intended for highly qualified jobs that technological companies have trouble filling. Critics say that the program undermines American workers, attracting people from overseas who are often willing to work for as little as $ 60,000 per year. It is below $ 100,000 wages and more generally paid to American technology workers.

Trump on Friday insisted that the technology industry would not oppose this decision. Lutnick, on the other hand, said that “all large companies” were on board.

Representatives of the largest technological companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta, did not immediately respond to messages for comments. Microsoft refused to comment.

“We are concerned about the impact on employees, their families and American employers,” said the American Chamber of Commerce. “We work with the administration and our members to understand the complete implications and the best path to go.”

Lutnick said that the change will probably lead to much fewer H-1B visas than the 85,000 annual ceiling would only allow “it is simply more economical”.

“If you are going to train people, you are going to train Americans,” said Lodnick at a conference call with journalists. “If you have a very sophisticated engineer and want to bring them … then you can pay $ 100,000 per year for your H-1B visa.”

Trump also announced that he would start to sell a “gold card” visa with a path to American citizenship for $ 1 million after checking. For companies, it will cost $ 2 million to sponsor an employee.

Trump offers a `platinum card ”

The “Trump Platinum card” will be available for $ 5 million and allows foreigners to spend up to 270 days in the United States without being submitted to American taxes on non-American income. Trump announced a $ 5 million gold card in February to replace an existing investor visa – this is now the Platinum card.

Lutnick said that Gold and Platinum cards would replace employment -based visas that offer citizenship ways, including teachers, scientists, artists and athletes.

Critics of H-1B visas that say they are used to replace American workers have applauded this decision. American technology workers, a defense group, called it “the next best” to completely abolish visas.

Doug Rand, a senior official of citizenship and immigration services in the United States during the Biden administration, said that the increase in the costs proposed was “ridiculously without law”.

“It is not a real policy – it is the fans service for immigration restrictions,” said Rand. “Trump makes the headlines and inflicts panic and does not care if this survives the first contact with the courts.”

Lutnick said that H-1B costs and the gold card could be introduced by the president, but that the Platinum card needs convention approval.

Visas distributed by the lottery

Historically, H-1B visas were distributed at the lottery. This year, Amazon was by far the best recipient of H-1B visa with more than 10,000 awarded, followed by Tata Consultancy, Microsoft, Apple and Google. Geographically, California has the greatest number of H-1B workers.

Critics say that H-1B spots often go to entry-level jobs, rather than management positions with unique skills requirements. And although the program is not supposed to reduce American wages or move American workers, criticism say that companies can pay less by classifying jobs at the lowest skills levels, even if specific workers have more experience.

Consequently, many American companies find cheaper to contract assistance offices, programming and other basic tasks to consulting companies such as Wipro, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Tata in India and IBM and Cognizant in the United States, these consulting companies hire foreign workers, often from India, and contract them to save employers money.

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Ortatay reported to Oakland, California, the writers of the Associated Press Adriana Gomez Licon in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.