This Country Escapes Trump’s H-1B Visa Fee Hike!

United States president, Donald Trump has been making several radical decisions in this tenure and he was at it when he announced the new H-1B program. As a part of the new financial restructuring for H-1B application program, new applicants must pay an upfront fee of $100K.

This was one of the most controversial and radical announcements from Trump in this tenure. However, this program is going to come to effect only from next February and it is likely to undergo several cosmetic changes in the process.

In what could be considered the first major change in the regulation, it is announced that Singaporean applicants don’t come under this legal framework.

According to the latest communication from the United States embassy in Singapore, “The recent presidential proclamation regarding H-1B visas does not apply to the H-1B visa for Singaporean citizens. There is no change to the H-1B1 process at this point.”

Singapore is now officially, the first country to be exempted from this new H-1B visa fee regulation. This could be considered as a significant let off to Singaporeans as they need not pay the massive upfront fee.

However, it has to be seen if Singapore will be the sole exception to this policy or if there would be countries added to the list.