<\/p>\n
\nPhoto: 123RF\n<\/p>\n
A massive US$100,000 (NZ$170,000) fee slapped on a popular US work visa has sent shockwaves through global job seekers, but experts say Kiwis are unlikely to give up on the American dream.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday imposing the new application fee for the H-1B visa, which allows highly skilled workers to live and work in the US for three years, renewable once.<\/p>\n
Until now, the cost of applying has been about US$3,500.<\/p>\n
The H-1B is capped at 65,000 places a year, with an additional 20,000 reserved for those with advanced degrees. Many tech companies depend on it to fill critical skills gaps.<\/p>\n
For Kiwis, the announcement initially sparked panic. Kevin Park, co-founder of Concord Visa, which guides New Zealanders through the US process, told RNZ’s Checkpoint that the weekend following the announcement was “absolute chaos”.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got clients all around the world, including Kiwis that were having to make some impossible decisions,” he said.<\/p>\n
At first, Park said, no one knew if the fee would apply to people already in the US or just new applicants.<\/p>\n
Clarification since then has narrowed the scope. The fee will hit only new applicants preparing for next year’s lottery.<\/p>\n
That still leaves hundreds of New Zealanders exposed. Around 150 to 200 Kiwis secure an H-1B visa each year, and Park estimates up to a thousand are currently in the US on the scheme.<\/p>\n
But Park believes Kiwis will not be deterred. Instead, he expects more to channel their creativity into alternative routes, from the O-1 “superstar” visa to entrepreneur visas or intra-company transfers.<\/p>\n
“Kiwis don’t have wings, but we’ve always dared to go and fight it out with the best,” he said.<\/p>\n
Even before Trump’s announcement, there was already a “rocketing number” of applicants moving towards these alternatives, he said.<\/p>\n
New Zealand firms like Rocket Lab, Xero and Halter are using increasingly creative pathways to the US market, Park said.<\/p>\n
“They are relying on other different visas and making sure they have a fighting chance and not depending on [H-1B visa] lotteries to have a seat at the ring.<\/p>\n
“It’s not very good place to be trying to compete on the world stage when you only have a 20 [to] 30 percent chance of making it in the first place.”<\/p>\n
While Trump has argued the move will ensure the US admits only “great workers,” critics say it disproportionately targets Indian IT workers, who make up about 70 percent of H-1B holders.<\/p>\n
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went further, unveiling a new “gold card” scheme that would fast-track visas for foreigners who pay US$1 million – or US$2 million for companies sponsoring them.<\/p>\n
Park, however, dismissed suggestions that H-1B holders are underpaid. “These are six-figure jobs. People have degrees and must meet government-set salary levels,” he said.<\/p>\n
With fees skyrocketing and policies shifting, Park predicts Kiwis will continue to do what they’ve always done – improvise.<\/p>\n
“This is far from what anyone was expecting. But New Zealanders are savvy,” he said.<\/p>\n
“They’ll keep finding ways to get amongst it.”<\/p>\n
-RNZ\/CNN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: 123RF A massive US$100,000 (NZ$170,000) fee slapped on a popular US work visa has sent shockwaves through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-37332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}