Trump imposes $100,000 fee for H-1B visas

Rules favoring wealthiest foreign workers are a stark shift for U.S.

- BY JOSH WINGROVE AND SPENCER SOPER

MOVIEGOERS attend a Vidiots screening at the Eagle Theater last week. The nonprofit video store relaunched with a cinema in 2023.

President Trump has taken his most extensive step yet toward overhauling the U.S. legal migration system, with a pair of proclamations that explicitly favor the wealthiest of the world’s prospective expat workers.

Trump on Friday imposed a $100,000 application fee on the widely used H-1B visa program, a move that would drastically increase the cost of visas heavily coveted by some of America’s largest companies — including in the Silicon Valley — seeking to bring in skilled workers from abroad.

California has the highest number of H-1B workers, with Apple and Google among the leading recipients in the country. Amazon is by far the top recipient.

The president also unveiled a “Trump Gold Card” visa program — under which, for the price of $1 million, immigrants could get U.S. residency. Businesses could buy residency permits for $2 million per employee, while a new “platinum” card set to be issued soon would cost $5 million and allow the holder to come to the U.S. for up to 270 days a year without being subject to U.S. taxes on non-U.S. income.

The restrictions and fees go into effect Sunday.

It all amounts to a plan for a new gilded age of immigration to America, where those with the resources to invest are welcomed along with their wallets — while at the same time new barriers the box office, even after the pandemic, which led to the demise of some well-known cinemas.

GUESTS make their way to the Eagle Theater's beer and wine bar before taking their seats for a screening.

The famed Cinerama Dome and adjoining former ArcLight theater on Sunset Boulevard have still not reopened, despite popular demand.