- The H-1B Action.
- President Trump acts to impose a $100,000 dollar fee on H-1B visas. There an estimated 700000 or so H-1B visa holders in the US and up to 85000 new visas are issued a year. The greatest number of H-1B visas are issued to people from India. The tech industry is the greatest utilizer of the program.
- The government has also said the fee will only apply to new applicants.
- The new fee has the potential to be more bark than bite short term but also to longer term have a very negative impact on growth and leadership here.
- We had a long discussion Friday with a mid sized business that relies on immigrant labor. He told me the H-1B visa program has become so biased towards big employers that the change would have overall a smaller impact on most businesses.
- To have some hike in the fee is fine. This is probably significantly too big of an increase.
- A core problem with the action is the signaling that we don’t want to attract the very best and brightest to the US. That’s bad. We need to be a beacon for the best and brightest and the most entrepreneurial country in the world.
Lifestyle & Personal Notes
October 8, 2025
6:11 pm
Watch House of Guinness on Netflix. “Ideas are a commodity. Execution of them is not.”