Trump targets H-IB visa in gamble to protect American jobs

Whether his solution is the right fix remains to be seen, but changes are needed to end gaming of the foreign workers programme.

- Patricia Lopez

US President Donald Trump is taking yet another gamble on immigration, betting that he can force companies to compete for skilled American engineers and tech workers rather than hire foreign workers through the popular H-1B visa programme.

Employers won't like it — but reform of the programme is long overdue.

The overhaul, signed by the President last week, escalates the price of entry to US$100,000 (S$128,000) per worker, to be paid by the company. And the costs don’t stop there. Mr Trump also wants a revision of prevailing wage rules to ensure that visa holders get paid the same as Americans - a change that should further discourage companies from importing foreign labour.

The plan - which may face legal challenges preserves H-1B visas as a last resort in fields where talent is scarce, but tilts the playing field towards American workers, answering critics in and out of Maga (Make America Great Again) who complain that companies are addicted to hiring cheaper foreign workers.

Tech companies, which have relied on H-1Bs for years, could be the biggest losers under the new rules. Some tech titans are already complaining that “if the US ceases to attract the best talent, it drastically reduces its ability to innovate and grow the economy”, as Mr Deedy Das, a partner at Menlo Ventures, put it on X. (An earlier White House discussion of reforming H-1Bs faltered after criticism from, among others, tech billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Notably, they’ve now departed from the administration.)