One of the stars of reality TV business show Shark Tank has warned that President Donald Trump’s controversial changes to the H-1B visa program will “hurt innovation long-term.”
Kevin O’Leary, who is one of five “angel investors” on the ABC show, said that the president’s recent proclamation would also push foreign talent away from the U.S. and to other countries instead.
It comes after Trump on Friday signed a proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee on all H-1B visa applicants. The new rule took effect on Sunday and will reportedly remain in force for 12 months.
H-1B visas are designed to bring highly skilled foreign workers to the U.S. for jobs that are deemed difficult to fill, particularly in the tech sector. Since 2012, about 60 percent of all H-1B visas have gone to workers in computer-related jobs, according to the Pew Research Center.
“Apple, Oracle, Google, all started in a garage,” O’Leary wrote in a post on X, in which he shared a clip of himself speaking on Fox News – where he is a regular contributor. “They could not have afforded to do this, and all of those companies took advantage of talent they couldn’t find in the United States as they grew.
“I think what this does is hurt innovation long-term. I agree that it’s going to push these really talented people into other countries.”
He added: “My attitude about this is: if we educate you at MIT or at Harvard, any school, we should give you a free ticket to stay here, get married, form a company, and build American businesses here.
“Why train them and kick them out?”
Signing the proclamation Friday, Trump told reporters, “We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that that’s what’s going to happen.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick originally said the $100,000 fee will be required annually but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has since walked that back. She said in a post on X on Saturday, “This is NOT an annual fee. It’s a one-time fee that applies only to the petition.”
She also clarified those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country will not be charged $100,000 to re-enter.
“Everyone’s going to be happy, and we’re going to be able to keep people in our country that are going to be very productive people,” Trump added. “And in many cases, these companies are going to pay a lot of money for that, and they’re very happy about it.”
Despite the president’s positivity, the argument over H-1B visas has been rumbling on since December.
Trump backers including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy argued such programs were “essential” because many Americans were not smart enough to do the job and that American culture “venerated mediocrity.”
“The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B,” Musk wrote on X at the time. “I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”
