US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has warned that a proposed $100,000 fee on H-1B visas could end up pushing American companies to move work offshore rather than bring skilled foreign talent into the country.
Krishnamoorthi said the issue is not limited to workers from any single country, but affects highly skilled professionals from across the world, including India, China and Sweden. “These people fill some of the most exquisite technical roles in our economy,” he said, pointing to the role such professionals have played in founding companies and creating jobs in the US.
The congressman argued the $100,000 fee would effectively act as a tax on companies seeking to employ H-1B workers, making it harder for businesses to retain or recruit specialised talent, and could also prompt existing visa holders to reconsider staying in the US. He warned that companies struggling to hire specialised talent domestically would increasingly look overseas instead: “You can either onshore the talent or offshore the work,” he said, framing it as a choice companies would ultimately be forced to make. The US currently issues 65,000 H-1B visas a year, plus an extra 20,000 reserved for applicants with advanced degrees from US institutions.
