A presidential proclamation that went into effect this weekend requires companies with employees using the H-1B visa to pay a fee of $100,000.
The H-1B visa allows U.S. employers to hire foreign-born workers to work in tech, medicine and other specialized fields.
President Donald Trump made the proclamation from the Oval Office late Friday, along with an executive order about the availability of a so-called Trump Gold Card visa — a new visa that would fall within the EB Visas category usually reserved for people with advanced professional degrees or “extraordinary ability." Approved applicants would obtain U.S. residency after paying $1 million for the gold card visa.
Friday’s proclamation banned the approval or admission of people with the visa unless the $100,000 fee was paid. But, three days later, immigration experts say questions still remain about how that looks on the ground.
“We don’t know how you pay the $300,000 fee, even though the proclamation is in effect already, and we don’t know what they mean by new petition,” Shev Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association said on a press call Monday.
In July, Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it had received enough H-1B petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap of 65,000 for that visa category. Exceptions are made for petitions from affiliated nonprofits, research organizations and universities, or for applicants with higher level degrees from U.S. schools.
Dalal-Dheini said H-1B visa holders chosen from this latest round of petitions are set to arrive in the U.S. by October, and it appears they may not be subject to the new fee.
Meanwhile, under further guidance from federal agencies and on social media over the weekend, companies may be exempt from the new fee if they can demonstrate that their work is in the national interest. But, Dalal-Dheini said, it’s not clear how to apply for an exception, or what work that entails.
American Immigration Lawyers’ Association President Jeff Joseph said the administration has said “new petitions” would face the fee, but it’s still not clear how, when or who will have to pay.
“For example, if I’m working for one H-1B employer and I moved to a new H1B employer, I file a petition for a new H-1B employer, so the question is — is a change of employer considered a new petition, even though I have H1B status?,” he said.
Joseph and other attorneys urged visa holders who were outside the U.S. over the weekend to return as soon as possible.
