India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved applications, Reuters news agency reports, citing government data.

China was said to come in second at 11.7%.

Tahmina Watson, a founding attorney at Watson Immigration Law, told the BBC that the ruling could be a “nail in the coffin” for many of her clients that are mostly small businesses and start-ups.

“Almost everyone’s going to be priced out. This $100,000 as an entry point is going to have a devastating impact,” she added, noting that many small or medium-sized companies “will tell you they actually can’t find workers to do the job”.

“When employers sponsor foreign talent, more often than not, they’re doing that because they have not been able to fulfill those positions,” Ms Watson added.

Jorge Lopez, the chair of the immigration and global mobility practice group at Littler Mendelson PC, said a $100,000 fee “will put the brakes on American competitiveness in the tech sector and all industries”.

Some companies might consider setting up operations outside the US, though doing so can be challenging in practice, he added.

The debate over H-1Bs had previously caused splits within Trump’s team and supporters, pitting those in favour of the visas against critics such as former strategist Steve Bannon.

Trump told reporters at the White House in January that he understands “both sides of the argument” on H-1Bs.

The year before – while seeking to attract support from the tech industry while on the campaign trail – Trump vowed to make the process of attracting talent easier, going as far as to propose green cards for college graduates.

“You need a pool of people to work for companies,” he told the All-In Podcast. “You have to be able to recruit these people and keep these people.”

Early in his first term in 2017, Trump signed an executive order that increased scrutiny of H-1B applications, seeking to improve fraud detection.

Rejections rose to an all-time high of 24% in the 2018 fiscal year, compared to between 5% and 8% under Barack Obama and then between 2% and 4% under Joe Biden.

At the time, tech companies pushed back, criticising the Trump administration’s H-1B order.

[BBC]