Microsoft Asks All Foreign Staff to Return to Us After Trump's H1b Bombshell

Posted3 months agoActive3 months ago

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H1b VisaTrump AdministrationMicrosoft

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H1b Visa

Trump Administration

Microsoft

Microsoft asks foreign staff on H1B visas to return to the US amid Trump's announcement of a $100,000 visa fee, sparking outrage and concerns about the impact on foreign workers and the economy.

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01Story posted
Sep 20, 2025 at 8:26 AM EDT
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Discussion (9 comments)

Showing 9 comments

pavlov

3 months ago

2 replies

They come up with these rules on a Saturday morning. If you’re a visa holder outside the country and you don’t return to the US by Sunday, you’ll be asked to pay a $100k ransom to re-enter the country where your life and work and children are.

Amazing level of contempt for ordinary foreigners who came into the country legally.

The inhumanity aside, the economy-related quotes from Lutnick and Trump are typically laughable. It’s hard to believe these guys are in charge:

“[Lutnick] added that the revised program would filter out the ‘bottom quartile’ while generating more than $100 billion for the US Treasury. Trump further said that the revenue would be used to reduce national debt and lower taxes.”

The US has a multi-trillion-dollar deficit. Even if they could somehow get a million H1B holders paying this huge sum, the income wouldn’t reduce the national debt because you’re still running a big deficit. It would just slightly slow the current growth of the deficit.

jmpman

3 months ago

1 reply

Every dime paid by the H1B tax is a dime the US taxpayers don’t need to pay. The administration should go further and layer an additional tax on H1B’s income. That would reduce the amount the H1Bs take home. Excess pay in the tech industry is driving up real estate prices in the bay and Seattle. The excess pay is either spent on rent or remitted to the home country. Neither is beneficial to a US worker in the technology hubs.

Irishsteve

3 months ago

1 reply

Would that not be a slippery slope ? Tax foreigners more if on a h1b, but not foreigners on other work visas.

jmpman

3 months ago

I’m fine with taxing foreigners more if on other visas too.

jvanderbot

3 months ago

You're of course right on all points, but in the sense of HN, I'm required to point out that technically, reducing the deficit even a little does reduce the debt as a fn of time, so that the debt at any future time is lower than it would be.

mrlonglong

3 months ago

1 reply

Trump and his pals forget that US kids aren't interested in STEM these days. Who's got to spend billions training and educating them?

Thank goodness I'm no longer a H1B holder, having returned home after the Clinton days.

jmpman

3 months ago

1 reply

Those $100k fees can be used to fund STEM scholarships for US citizens. The H1Bs fees could be the billions training and educating them.

Spivak

3 months ago

1 reply

You are absolutely daft if you think that's how money works in government. It all goes into a pot and is dolled out according to the budget. When you impose fees like this the fee alone has to be worth it independently.

We should fund training and education in STEM for US citizens but that is a separate discussion from this.

yesfitz

3 months ago

You're wrong both generally and in this case specifically.

Since 1998, H1-B applications include a $500 fee[1] that's used to "...provide training and related activities to workers to assist them in gaining...employment in high-growth industries or economic sectors."[2]

Government programs frequently include provisions for how they will be funded.[3] And revenues generated by government programs are frequently earmarked for specific purposes prior to collection.[4]

That money is not fungible. It is "mandatory" spending.[5]

If you're going to be wrong, you should try not to be rude at the same time.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Competitiveness_and_W...

2: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/skills-grants/h1-b-skills-t...

3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_taxes_in_the_United_...

4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Lottery#Lottery_p...

5: https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/introduction-to...

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