The surprise order of the Trump Administration that imposes a new rate of $ 100,000 in some visas triggered a day of frantic trips since foreign workers, companies and governments rushed to respond to the last repression of Washington immigration.
When the White House clarified that the existing holders of the H-1B visas for qualified workers were not affected, the chaos had already been sewn: the American allies expressed concern and their nationals left the holidays, the business trips and the plans to see the family while running back to the United States before the new rules went into force on Sunday.
President Donald Trump signed the proclamation on Friday that he demanded that companies pay the rate to obtain the visas, in which the main technological companies trust to fill highly qualified jobs.
However, the order offered little clarity about whether the new steep position applied only to new applications, or could also catch renewals and even those that already have valid visas.
Ambiguity was sufficient to trigger a worst case interpretation within the joint rooms and in the rooms from Bengaluru to London.
The government of India said that the measure is likely to have “humanitarian consequences through the interruption caused by families”, adding the “complete implications of the measure.”
During the 24 hours tense, workers feared that they could be closed from the United States completely.
Technology and banks sent urgent notes to employees who advised them not to leave the country. The bags were packed, the bought tickets and the families left while the visas holders rushed to overcome what they thought was an imminent deadline.
The images verified by NBC News showed chaos and confusion on a outgoing flight from San Francisco to Dubai after Trump’s announcement.
The captain is heard citing “unprecedented” circumstances, saying “there are several passengers who do not want to travel with us.”
The passenger who published the footage on Instagram said several people chose to leave the plane and that it was caught “in the same place for more than three hours, waiting for the flight to leave.”
Microsoft, Amazon and Goldman Sachs were among the companies that sent urgent emails to the H-1B headlines with travel notices.
It was only on Saturday that officials tried to withdraw the agitation, to explain that the $ 100,000 tax was a unique charge, limited to new requests, and that the holders of existing visas, including foreigners, would not be affected.
“The proclamation does not apply to anyone who has a current visa,” said the White House quick response account in X, clarifying that proclamation only applies to future applications.
The Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, had said on Friday that companies would have to pay $ 100,000 per year for H-1B workers. But the White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, said in an X post on Saturday that this was not an annual fee, only a unique rate that applied to each request.
But the fight had already left his mark.
Rohan Singh, who works as a manufacturing engineer in North Carolina, canceled his plan to visit India, saying that there was “panic among H-1B visas holders”,
“We don’t know what is ahead,” he told the Reuters news agency.
People in H-1b visas also shared their experiences to return to the United States in the popular application of Chinese social networks Rednote, according to Reuters, in some cases shortly after landing in other countries.
On Friday, “the predominant interpretation” was that people abroad had to return before the deadline, said Grace Shie, immigration lawyer in Mayer Brown, NBC News.
“There was certainly that burst, because for large and small organizations, they would have to transmit that message, and as soon as possible,” he told NBC News.
India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B Visas last year, representing 71% of the approved beneficiaries, while China was a distant second with 11.7%, according to government data.
Nueva Delhi and Washington will resume trade negotiations on the steep tariffs of the Trump administration, but in a sign of how tanks have tensioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked citizens in a public speech on Sunday to increase the use of products made locally instead of foreigners.
South Korea, which is still recovering from a raid on September 4 by immigration authorities at a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, also said he was paying much attention to change.
“When the Government announces a new important policy that potentially affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in an extremely concrete way” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a main member of the American Imigration Council, said in X. “At least it owes people precise information.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a comment request during the NBC News night.
Trump “promised to put American workers first, and this common sense action does exactly that by discouraging companies to send spam to the system and reduce salaries,” said Taylor Rogers, spokesman for the White House, CNBC. “It also certainly gives US companies who really want to take highly qualified workers to our great country, but have been trampled by system abuse.”
The proclamation is a victory for immigration intransigents in Capitol Hill, but it is likely to take into account technology executives looking for qualified workers from abroad.
Amazon, Meta, Google, Apple and Walmart, are among the largest visa users under the program, which was signed by the then president George Hw Bush in 1990.
The rate had oscillated between $ 2,000 and $ 5,000 per application.
Trump said Friday that technological companies would be satisfied with changes.
“I think they will be very happy. Everyone will be happy,” Trump said.