Silicon Valley Democrat Reed Hastings calls Trump’s $100K H-1B visa fee a ‘great solution’

In the X Publishing on Sunday, Hastings said he worked on the H-1B policy for three decades and argued that the sharp cost will keep visas for “very high value jobs”, which removes the lottery and gives employers more certainty.

Himing’s support for several reasons. On the one hand, as one of the largest Democrats “Megadons” who are strongly involved in the party’s policy, he rarely supports any of Trump’s actions, and in fact the President said, “He will destroy a lot of what is great in America.”

Second, Hastings support against the dominant mood in the technology industry, as most companies are concerned about the high costs and the chilling effect of talent tubes. Elon Musk, the indirect ally of the White House Trump, has strongly criticized the potential changes on the program.

Many local technology leaders said that the six numbers fees can deal with a serious blow to innovation and competitiveness in Silicon Valley. Didi Das, the investment capitalist, a former H-1B holder and his partner at Menlo Ventures, warned that the policy undermines the largest advantage in America: its ability to attract global talents.

And he told CBS news.

DAS added, the smaller startups, you can see their financial runway, limited to months away if they are forced to absorb the new cost, while some founders say they will simply stop caring for foreign tenants completely.

What is H-1B and what has become

The H-1B program was created in 1990 to allow American companies to employ foreign workers in “specialized professions” that require very technical or professional experience. In theory, it is supposed to bring rare talent – thinking about engineers, doctors, computer scientists and specialized researchers. Every year, congress entertains the number of new visas at 85,000, which is a much lower number of demand.

In practice, the program evolved into something more chaotic. Nearly 70 % of the visas go to Indian citizens, many of which are not escalating by the Silicon Valley companies, but by using external sources of giants such as Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultance, many of them work in part of the IT sector. These companies contract employees to US agents, where critics-including President Donald Trump-leads them to reduce American workers with low wage workers.

Defenders argue that the American economy strongly needs these skills and that visa holders often fill the jobs that may become vacant.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and a strong supporter of Trump, was famous for a Christmas match with the Maja Base because of his support for H-1B visas.

“There is a severe shortage of very talented and enthusiastic engineers in America,” Moses’ post on X. “If you are forcing the world’s best talent to play with the other side, America will lose.”

He said that, like many Americans, he is the same here because of the visa.

Confusion, then clarification

On this background, Trump’s advertisement on Friday, which requires paying $ 100,000 for each new petition shock waves through the technology sector.

Trade Minister Howard Lootnick initially said that the fees may be annual, which provides panic among employers. By Saturday, the White House explained: It is just a one -time boost that is applied to new petitions in the lottery in the future, not renovations or re -inserted them by the current visa holders.

“This is not an annual fee,” wrote Caroline Levit’s spokeswoman on X.

The clarification calmed down some instant fears, but not the wider anxiety. Many employers rushed to get H-1B holders to travel to the United States before the age of the fees. Shubra Singh’s professional company in CNBC’s vital technology company said that its dinner on Saturday in Pittsburg with H-1B friends has gone out of its path due to the news alerts of anxiety that left a lot of rush to change travel plans.

Economic infection in India

The financial resonance was immediate. The shares of the foreign sources of use of Indian information technology – including Infosys, WIPRO, TECHAHINDRA, HCL Technologies and Tata Consultance – between 1.7 % and 4.2 % in Indian stock exchanges during trading on Monday.

Citi Research said that the fees can fly about 100 basis points of margins and reduce profits per share across the IT sector by approximately 6 % if companies continue employment through H-1BS. Analysts, including Toshi Jain from JP Morgan, expect that a number of Indian students will choose American universities if the post -graduation visa is now holding a six -digit price sign.

However, some see the opportunity. ACCEL Prashanth Prakash partner said that the disorder can redirect major graduates towards the ecosystem to start operating in India.

“If Indian talents no longer go to the United States, this may be a blessing for local entrepreneurship,” he said.

” Economic times in India The H-1B turmoil pays Indian professionals to the vision of India itself-not the United States-as a final destination for global talents.

“With this type of first companies of artificial intelligence and global opportunities that are being built here today, we have one time in the generation to keep global global talents,” Agrouwal said.

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