Small business leaders are fit to be tied over President Donald Trump’s latest executive order. At its heart, it requires an outrageous $100,000 penalty for H-1B visa applications. This sudden fee particularly devastates high-skilled foreign workers. That would be devastating to the majority of affected companies, particularly in sectors that are already dealing with workforce shortages. Karen Brady, chief executive of Ryther, a Seattle-based behavioral health nonprofit, pointed out what a critical role H-1B visa holders play. They are a critical part of addressing ongoing staffing challenges in her field.
Brady announced that Ryther now has two therapists on H-1B visas. Like Cheng, both therapists were born in China and are members of a team that includes 45 other employees. The firm has relied on the H-1B program to staff up when they had shortages. Now, that need is even greater as the demand for behavioral health services skyrocketed since the COVID-19 pandemic first surged.
“There’s no way that we can afford $100,000,” she remarked, encapsulating the sentiment among many small firms that rely on this vital program to hire skilled professionals.
The executive order has garnered mixed reactions. Some were supportive, such as Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, while others condemned it. Industry experts say that the high cost of entry would make it impossible for smaller companies to compete for talent. Dan Wang, a professor at Columbia Business School, pointed out that policies like these often lead companies to consider offshoring operations instead of hiring domestically. Second, he explained, they fail to keep American workers competitive in the labor market.
Abhishek Singh, a software development manager in the Puget Sound region, has expressed concern over the upcoming fee. Yet he remains concerned about its broader implications. Singh has lived the last ten years working in the U.S. on an H-1B visa. So, he understands his startup employer will have a hard time paying this fee on top of what they pay him now. “There’s uncertainty now that anything can happen in the future,” Singh stated about his precarious situation.
Singh is back to considering moving elsewhere if he can’t get a good work opportunity in the U.S. He shared about the possibility of returning to his country of origin, India. He further stated a desire to seek out opportunities in Canada, Japan, or South Korea. His case represents a growing anxiety among the highly educated immigrant labor pool. Many fear that government-mandated financial barriers would close doors to them in the U.S.
Karen Brady emphasized the importance of H-1B visa holders to her organization and others in her field, stating that “they match some of our clients in a way that American workers don’t.” This in-demand skill set is critical to providing high quality care to the people who need it most.
Not everyone is convinced that increasing fees will push highly-skilled workers further from U.S. job opportunities. Opponents claim that the promised benefits fail to outweigh the expenses incurred. Ronil Hira, a public policy expert and former congressional staffer, testified that high-skilled workers create enormous value for their employers. He’s convinced that a $100,000 fee should not dissuade these highly valued, entrepreneurial contributors.
The behavioral health sector is facing unprecedented demand for services with worsening mental health conditions since the pandemic. As organizations like Ryther struggle to meet this need with limited resources, the implications of Trump’s executive order loom large.
Elise Fialkowski, co-chair of corporate immigration practice at Klasko Immigration Law Partners, articulated concerns about the broader implications of such policies. She explained how this executive order “virtually encourages companies to offshore work.” This, she explained, could inadvertently drive companies to employ overseas instead of investing in homegrown talent.
Even economic experts are concerned about the positive long-term impacts on U.S. growth. Atakan Bakiskan, an economist at the investment bank Berenberg, has only recently changed his mind on the U.S. economy’s growth trajectory. He then downgraded it from 2% to 1.5%, citing the $100,000 H-1B fee as indicative of the Trump administration’s larger “anti-growth policymaking.”
The H-1B program is generally limited to about 85,000 new visas a year. However, with rising fees and uncertainties surrounding immigration policies, small businesses fear they may lose access to essential talent pools.