US President Donald Trump’s new visa fees for foreign workers drew widespread condemnation from technology executives, entrepreneurs and investors across social media, with just a few outliers, as many saw it as a major blow to a sector that contributed millions to his re-election campaign.

Technology executives and investors said the new fees could add millions of dollars in costs for companies and disproportionately hurt startups, which may not be able to afford visas as part of their strategy.

In a confusing set of announcements beginning late Friday, Trump and other White House officials said they would charge firms $100,000 apiece for H1-B worker temporary employment visas, used by many tech majors, including Amazon.com, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms.

Many criticised the move and the chaotic roll-out that required the White House to clarify that the hefty fees would be charged just once, not annually, and they would not apply to existing holders, including those who happened to be overseas at the time of the announcement.

Meta, Microsoft and Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Most executives at the tech giants, many of whom have forged close relationships with the Trump White House since his return to office, have not commented publicly on the proposal, which could drastically change their system of attracting talent from countries such as India and China. But others weighed in.

CHAOS AT AIRPORTS

The late Friday announcement caused chaos for travellers, some of whom got off planes rather than go overseas, while others raced home on the advice of their companies before the White House clarified the order.

“My heart goes out to all the families and individuals anxious over their futures following the abrupt and chaotic announcement of H-1B visa changes,” said Andrew Ng, founder of DeepLearningAI, in a post on LinkedIn. “America should be working to attract more skilled talent, not create uncertainty that turns them away.”

The change met with some support from top executives, including Vice Chairman Gary Cohn, who served as head of the White House National Economic Council in the first Trump administration.

He told CBS News the new fees were a “good idea” that would help bring in employees with high-value skillsets.

Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings shared a similar view in a post on X, saying the higher cost would mean visas would be used only for “very high value jobs” and provide more certainty for those who have them.

But David Seidman, the head of platform security at fintech firm Plaid, predicted on LinkedIn that “at least one” of the Big Tech names would stop hiring for those jobs in the United States and build out their footprint in India or Canada.