A COALITION of business groups warned President Donald Trump that a newly announced US$100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications risks harming the US economy and urged the administration to avoid changes to the skilled worker programme that impose added burdens on companies.
In a letter sent on Friday to Trump, roughly a dozen industry organisations representing chipmakers, software companies and retailers said the new fee threatens to crimp a crucial talent pipeline of foreign skilled workers and leave critical jobs unfilled.
“We ask the administration to work with industry on necessary reforms to the H-1B visa program without increasing the significant challenges US employers face recruiting, training, and retaining top talent,” the groups wrote.
The letter, sent two weeks after the president’s H-1B proclamation, was careful to laud Trump’s efforts to bring investment to the US.
Signers included the Business Software Alliance, the semiconductor industry’s SEMI, the National Retail Federation, the Entertainment Software Association and the Information Technology Industry Council, according to a copy seen by Bloomberg News.
The industry groups’ objections marked a rare rebuke from the business community of US policy under the new administration.
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Trump announced the H-1B changes at the White House last month, heralding the US$100,000 fee as a way to rein in abuses in the skilled worker programme while pushing US companies to turn more to domestic talent to fill jobs.
A White House spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Higher costs from the new H-1B fees threaten to hammer a wide range of industries, from technology to health care to finance.
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Companies including Microsoft, Amazon.com and Walmart have relied for years on the skilled worker programme to bolster their ranks, and changes to the programme put their talent pipelines at risk.
Cutting-edge sectors like artificial intelligence and biomedical engineering will need a high-skilled workforce to sustain their pace of growth in the US, the groups wrote.
The H-1B changes risk hurting progress in those key areas, the groups said. Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, Samsung Electronics, Applied Materials and KLA Corp. all have members on SEMI’s board.
“The new approach to H-1B visas, as it stands, will harm the Administration’s goals to ensure the US remains a leader in AI, revitalises manufacturing growth, and propels US-developed energy,” the groups wrote.
Representatives from Walmart, Target Corp. and Macy’s Inc. are part of the NRF’s executive committee and board. The federation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Walmart is among major users of H-1B visas in the US along with tech giants and consulting companies. After Trump announced the US$100,000 fee, several major companies urged employees holding the visa not to leave the US.
The letter emphasised that each of the industries represented “stand ready to work with the administration” to change the H-1B programme. Copies of the letter were also shared with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump’s H-1B visa changes faced their first major court challenge on Friday. A nurse-staffing agency and several unions sued the administration in federal court seeking to block the fee.
For hospitals, the H-1B programme is crucial to recruiting doctors in rural areas hit by shortages of health care workers. The administration said on Sep 22 doctors could qualify for exemptions from the new fee. BLOOMBERG
