The $100,000 fee imposed on H-1B workers may not significantly deter the hiring of H-1B workers, the National Bureau of Economic Research said in a study by economist George Borjas. Titled,’H-1B Wage Gap, Visa Fees, and Employer Needs,” the paper highlights the wide pay gap between U.S. workers and H-1B workers and investigates whether the new law is sustainable.Borjas, who is often cited as the brains behind Trump’s immigration fees, found that “H-1B workers on average earn about 16 percent less than U.S.-born workers in the same region, with the same education, age, gender and occupation.”The paper analyzes how this affects employers’ desire to hire high-skilled H-1B workers despite the new $100,000 fee, noting that since these high-skilled workers typically earn more than $100,000 per year, employers will still find it advantageous to hire them because “the average wage savings from hiring an H-1B is nearly $100,000 over the six-year visa period.”According to New India Abroad, the Cuban-born, Harvard-educated economist claimed that “imposing visa fees of $150,000 to $200,000 may not have much impact on the number of H-1B workers hired” because the wage gap would make employers willing to pay big bucks for the “privilege” of hiring such workers. Furthermore, according to Borjas’ calculations, such fees “would generate a total of $10 billion to $20 billion annually and change the skill mix of the H-1B workforce to make it more skilled.”He noted that the economic benefits of immigration are greater when the flow is composed of highly skilled workers.Additionally, he argued that because companies must apply for permission to temporarily hire specific workers, employers gain a certain amount of market power that could lower wages for the H-1B workforce. This is further confirmed by the numbers H-1B visaUnder the legislation, new visas issued to for-profit companies are capped at 85,000 per year, making H-1B visas a precious and scarce commodity.
