H-1B scam persists, despite Trump’s changes

Among the government programs that produce more confusion than benefits, H-1B visas are right up there.

- MICHAEL HILTZIK COLUMNIST

PRESIDENT TRUMP, shown with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week, has ordered a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas.

(ANDREW HARNIK Getty Images)

If you've been hearing about H-1B visas, it’s probably because President Trump abruptly changed its rules with a proclamation on Friday.

As is typical of Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip policymaking, the proclamation produced an outbreak of fear and chaos, in this case among holders of the visas. That’s because it seemed at first that the administration was imposing a $100,000 fee not only on applicants for the visas, but on current holders reentering the U.S. from abroad, say from home leave or a business trip.

Until the White House clarified that the charge would be a onetime fee for new H-1B applications, not charged annually or for renewals or reentry, holders were advised by some employers not to leave the U.S. for the present; those who were caught off-guard overseas scurried to get home by Sunday, when the fee began.

A Friday Emirates flight from San Francisco to Dubai had to abort its departure to allow several panicky passengers to disembark, according to Bloomberg.

The administration's subsequent assurances have quelled the panic. But the proclamation has created new befuddlements, including over whether it opens the door to illicit dealings between Trump and companies bidding for the visas, and whether it’s even legal.

As my colleagues Queenie Wong and Nilesh Christopher reported, there are concerns that “a selective application of the fee could be away the White House can reward its friends and punish its detractors.”

Importantly, there’s room to question whether the proclamation will solve longstanding problems with H-1B visas. So let’s take a look at the program's malodorous history.