By Ghana News
Copyright ghanamma
US President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order imposing a $100,000 (about GH¢1.5 million) annual fee on applicants to the H-1B visa programme, which is the main pathway for skilled foreign workers to take up jobs in America.
The controversial order, which takes effect on September 21, targets new visa requests and requires companies to pay the same amount for each sponsored worker for up to six years. Until now, H-1B applicants paid administrative fees of just around $1,500.
Critics say the new fees will price out smaller firms and drastically reduce opportunities for skilled workers from countries such as India, Ghana, Nigeria and others who have long relied on the H-1B system to access jobs in the US technology and business sectors.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defended the move, saying employers must now “decide if the person is valuable enough to have a $100,000-a-year payment to the government, or they should head home, and they should go hire an American.”
Immigration lawyers warn that the new policy could devastate small businesses and start-ups that depend on international talent. “Almost everyone’s going to be priced out. This $100,000 as an entry point is going to have a devastating impact,” Tahmina Watson, a US immigration attorney, told the BBC.
Large tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Apple have historically been the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B scheme, but experts fear even they may consider moving some operations abroad.
For African professionals, especially in the tech and health sectors, the H-1B visa has been an important gateway to careers in the United States. Data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shows that applications for the visa fell to about 359,000 this year, already a four-year low.
The new $100,000 fee is expected to further shrink those numbers, tightening opportunities for thousands of skilled workers from Ghana and across the continent who dream of working in the US.
Meanwhile, Trump has also announced the introduction of a new “gold card” visa programme, fast-tracking entry for wealthy applicants willing to pay fees starting at £1 million.
Observers say the changes reflect Trump’s long-running scepticism of foreign workers, despite earlier promises to make it easier for international talent to enter the US.
