No immigration, no Nvidia: CEO Huang reaffirms H-1B sponsorship amid Trump's $100,000 visa fee row

Nvidia CEO and fellow immigrant to the United States, Jensen Huang has assured foreign workers that the chip maker will continue to sponsor H-1B visas for them despite the new $1,00,000 fee.

In a bombshell announcement last month, US President Donald Trump said that all new H-1B applications to the country would now cost $1,00,000 fees. Notably, these fees are paid by the companies, and was viewed as a way to force American companies to hire local talent instead of scouting abroad.

Huang message to employees was first reported by Business Insider on October 7. Reuters reported that a representative for the company declined to comment on the matter.

‘Nvidia would not be possible without you’, says Huang

Like other tech giants, Nvidia has a significant number of employees from other countries, who live and work in the US, with the highly-skilled workers visa, aka H-1B visa.

In an internal memo to staff, Business Insider quoted Jensen Huang stating: “As one of many immigrants at Nvidia, I know that the opportunities we've found in America have profoundly shaped our lives.”

“And the miracle of Nvidia — built by all of you, and by brilliant colleagues around the world — would not be possible without immigration,” he added.

Huang in his message added that “legal immigration remains essential to ensuring the US continues to lead in technology and ideas”, and that the Trump administration's “recent changes reaffirm this”.

Donald Trump's immigration policies: H-1B visa fees hiked

Donald Trump in September signed an executive order that bars new H-1B recipients from entering the US, unless the employer sponsoring their visa has made an additional $100,000 payment.

The administration has said the order does not apply to people who already hold H-1B visas or those who submitted applications before September 21.

Owing to the presence of Silicon Valley tech giants, California is consistently among the top ranked regions in the US since 2018, in the number of visa applications received annually, according to USCIS data, as per the report.

(With inputs from Reuters)