{"id":5986,"date":"2026-08-25T21:53:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T21:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=5986"},"modified":"2026-08-25T21:53:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T21:53:36","slug":"trump-h1b-fee-asylum-legal-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=5986","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s new H-1B fee and visa revocations are part of an all-out war on legal immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"


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In the span of a few hours on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would be implementing a fee of over $103,000 on H-1B visas, and news broke that the State Department plans on revoking the visas of up to 200,000 asylum seekers \u2014 which, according to The Associated Press<\/a>, would be the largest mass visa revocation in US history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More than a year into President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, it\u2019s become clear that the only way Trump can get the deportation numbers he wants is by stripping legal immigrants of status<\/a>. Beyond having ICE arrest, detain, and deport immigrants, the administration is pressuring noncitizens to \u201cself-deport,\u201d<\/a> in some cases imposing civil fines on them and threatening to seize their assets. It\u2019s creating legal hurdles not only for new legal immigrants but for those already in the country, and in the process, likely hurting businesses and social services nationwide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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H-1B visas are often seen as synonymous with Big Tech, in no small part because Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are the three biggest employers of H-1B workers. A federal judge struck down<\/a> Trump\u2019s previous attempt to raise the cost of these high-skilled employment visas in June, but not until over 70 employers paid the $100,000 fee<\/a>. Now Trump wants to raise the cost to $103,265. Advocates and business leaders are worried Trump will soon come after the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, which DHS hinted<\/a> may soon carry a $100,000 fee of its own. OPT lets international students work in their field of study for 12 months, with extensions of up to 24 months for some STEM students and additional extensions for holders of certain graduate degrees.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cEvery single other pathway is harder, outlawed, eliminated, more bureaucratic, more difficult across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis is clearly unlawful,\u201d said Todd Schulte, the president of FWD.us, an immigration reform organization founded by Mark Zuckerberg and other tech executives in 2013. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to guess what this is for. This is to get rid of the OPT and H-1B program, which will have upstream and downstream devastating consequences: companies will be started elsewhere, people will be hired elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This won\u2019t just hurt the tech industry. The previous fee hike exacerbated labor shortages<\/a> at rural hospitals across the country and Alaska public schools, both of which have increasingly turned to high-skilled immigrant workers in the wake of local population decline. If the $100,000 fee was an inconvenience for Amazon and Meta, it was utterly catastrophic for rural communities already having trouble attracting qualified candidates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Foreign workers aren\u2019t the only legal immigrants Trump is targeting. According to the AP<\/em>, which broke the news, the State Department will rescind up to 200,000 business and travel visas issued between 2016 and 2026 to people who applied for asylum after arriving in the US. Beyond limiting their ability to travel outside the country, this move won\u2019t change much for asylum seekers who came to the US on nonimmigrant visas \u2014 at least not for now. But Schulte said the visa revocations are part of Trump\u2019s efforts to gut the humanitarian immigration system. \u201cEvery single other pathway is harder, outlawed, eliminated, more bureaucratic, more difficult across the board,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s an all-of-government approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The administration is framing this change as a way of closing a loophole in the asylum system: people coming to the country on nonimmigrant visas, ostensibly for work or pleasure, only to ask for asylum upon setting foot in the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe are coordinating with DHS to identify and revoke the nonimmigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently,\u201d State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told the AP<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the people who applied for asylum this way didn\u2019t break any laws. In fact, a person needs to be present on US soil to apply for asylum; there\u2019s no way to apply from outside the country. And Trump has closed most other avenues for humanitarian migration. There\u2019s an effective \u201casylum ban\u201d in place at the US-Mexico border<\/a>. Refugee admissions have dropped to record lows, and the administration is now prioritizing the resettlement of white South Africans<\/a> and denying almost everyone else.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In his second term, Trump has shown that the only immigrants he wants are those who look a certain way \u2014 or who can pay a small fortune for the privilege of working in America.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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