Why Trump wants H-1B skilled worker visas to cost employers more than $100,000

US President Donald Trump is once again trying to impose a $100,000 fee on employers seeking to hire skilled temporary foreign workers through the H-1B visa programme. But while tech titans like Elon Musk have long championed the programme as a crucial way of drawing top global talent to Silicon Valley, critics on both left and right say the scheme is largely used to replace skilled US-born workers with cheaper – and more easily controlled – foreign guest workers.

US President Donald Trump is once again trying to impose a $100,000 fee on employers seeking to hire skilled temporary foreign workers through the H-1B visa programme. But while tech titans like Elon Musk have long championed the programme as a crucial way of drawing top global talent to Silicon Valley, critics on both left and right say the scheme is largely used to replace skilled US-born workers with cheaper – and more easily controlled – foreign guest workers.