About that $100,000 H-1B visa fee
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 September 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
The Trump administration is working to tamp down alarm over a new, $100,000 visa fee it announced on Friday. Technology, finance, and other major companies that depend on employees holding H-1B visas had initially thought the fee would be applied to existing visa holders, and those with H-1B workers who were temporarily abroad panicked. The fee only applies to new visa applicants, though, the White House later clarified. Also: an AI industry political action network and dark clouds for Broadway productions.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Our evolving understanding of a new 100 grand charge for skilled work visas. |
| 0:08.1 | I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. The Trump administration is working to tamp down alarm over a new $100,000 visa fee it announced on Friday for skilled workers. |
| 0:20.3 | Technology, finance, and other major companies that |
| 0:22.8 | depend on employees holding H-1B visas had initially thought the fee would be applied to existing |
| 0:28.9 | visa holders. No, just new applicants only, the White House later clarified. Marketplaces, |
| 0:34.6 | Nancy Marshall-Genzor, has more. President Trump issued a proclamation on Friday. |
| 0:39.0 | It says the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. companies to hire highly skilled workers from abroad, has been exploited and used to replace American workers with lower-paid immigrants. |
| 0:50.4 | The proclamation said the new policy took effect at 12.01 a.m. Eastern time yesterday. Companies with H-1B |
| 0:57.9 | workers who were temporarily abroad panicked and told them to return to the U.S. before the deadline, |
| 1:04.5 | over the weekend, Trump administration officials clarified that the new $100,000 fee only applies to new H-1B visa applications and that it's just a |
| 1:14.5 | one-time fee. supporters of the H-1B programs say U.S. firms can't find enough highly skilled |
| 1:21.0 | American workers. The American Immigration Lawyers Association is hinting at lawsuits. It says the Trump |
| 1:27.0 | administration is trying to rewrite laws |
| 1:29.4 | created by Congress, adding that the new fee, quote, will not stand up in court. I'm Nancy Marshall |
| 1:35.4 | Genser for Marketplace. During the last presidential election, the cryptocurrency industry accounted for |
| 1:42.7 | nearly half of all the corporate money spent, |
| 1:45.4 | this according to the watchdog group Public Citizen. Now we have a Congress and the Trump |
| 1:49.5 | administration that is more friendly to the crypto industry. With 13 and a half months till the |
| 1:54.8 | midterm elections, it is now the artificial intelligence industry looking for influence. |
| 2:00.4 | Pamryth Ram Kumar is a reporter at the Wall Street Journal |
| 2:03.6 | who recently wrote about an artificial intelligence industry political action network. |
| 2:08.7 | This network is called Leading the Future, |
... |
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