The Big Story 

President Trump’s decision to raise the fee for H-1B visa applications to $100,000 is sending shock waves through Silicon Valley, as the changes enact new hurdles to hiring foreign talent in the U.S. tech industry. 

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The administration has argued the hefty new fee on visas for highly skilled foreign workers will encourage companies to instead hire American workers amid an ongoing push to steeply curb immigration.

However, experts warn the move may have unintended consequences for the American tech sector. 

“It’s going to be a big blow to the industry and will result in less innovation, less output, less economic growth in the United States,” said David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute. 

Trump signed a proclamation Friday increasing the H-1B visa fee to $100,000. It previously cost between $2,000 and $5,000, according to NBC News. 

“No more will these Big Tech companies or other big companies train foreign workers,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said alongside the president in the Oval Office. “They have to pay the government $100,000. Then they have to pay the employee. So, it’s just not economic.” 

“If you’re going to train somebody, you’re going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs, that’s our policy here,” he added. 

Tech companies are particularly dependent on the H-1B program. Amazon was the top recipient of new H-1B approvals in fiscal year 2024, according to data from the National Foundation for American Policy. 

The information technology (IT) firms Cognizant and Infosys were the second and third highest recipients.

Also in the top 25 were IBM, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Apple, Intel and Tesla, the data shows. 

“H-1Bs are the primary pathway through which skilled workers, skilled immigrations come to work in the U.S. economy essentially,” said Adam Ozimek, chief economist at the Economic Innovation Group, adding, “It’s a really important source of innovative, skilled workers.” 

Check out the full report at TheHill.com tomorrow.

Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, I’m Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.

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Crypto Corner 

Emmer weighs in on Senate’s crypto market bill

© Greg Nash

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) has some praise — and some advice — for his colleagues in the Senate as they attempt to tackle crypto market structure legislation this fall.

Emmer, a longtime crypto advocate and co-chair of the Crypto Caucus, chatted with The Hill’s Emily Brooks last week about Senate Republicans’ latest discussion draft.

“It’s got some good and it’s got stuff that we disagree with,” Emmer told Brooks in a sit-down interview.

He touted the draft’s increased protections for software developers, as well as the inclusion of his own legislation, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA).

The BRCA would ensure that digital asset developers and service providers are not considered money transmitters under the law.

The measure was included in the House’s market structure bill, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which cleared the lower chamber in mid-July.

Shortly after, Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee put forward their discussion draft, offering up their own take on market structure legislation. But Emmer urged them to build on the House text.

“We all believe that the Senate should make that its base text. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We have done the work,” he said. “That being said, you can improve it. There’s no bill that can’t be improved.”

He also urged them to reconsider a portion of the draft that relies on the concept of ancillary assets to determine when digital asset transactions are covered by securities or commodities laws. 

“They’ve done one thing in the discussion draft, which I would beg for them to reconsider, is they’ve added ancillary assets,” Emmer said. 

The majority whip pushed for the Senate to adopt the House approach on this front, arguing it offers a “clear line test.”

Crypto Corner is a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington.

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