Donald Trump’s decision to impose a $100,000 (£74,096) fee on H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers could harm US economic growth, economists have warned. The proclamation, signed on Friday, increases the application fee 60-fold, aiming to encourage companies to hire more American workers.
The move is a blow to big tech companies that rely heavily on these visas to recruit engineers, scientists and coders from overseas, particularly India. Atakan Bakiskan, an economist at Berenberg, described it as “anti-growth policymaking”, warning that the loss of human capital would weigh heavily on productivity.
Berenberg has already lowered its US growth forecast from 2% to 1.5%, but Bakiskan said that unless Trump relents, even that figure “may soon look optimistic”. He added that the erosion of trust in institutions, tariffs and unsustainable fiscal policies could raise the risk of a financial crisis.
Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said the fee caused “a huge amount of uncertainty”. The White House later clarified that the higher fee applies only to new applicants and is a one-off payment. Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google are among the largest users of H-1B visas.
India, which accounted for 71% of approved H-1B visas last year, criticised the move. Commerce minister Piyush Goyal said: “They are also a little afraid of our talent.” Shares of Indian tech firms Infosys and Tata Consulting Services fell by about 3% on Monday in response.
