US President Donald Trump has made it a priority during his second term to remain close with the country's biggest tech executives, yet a new policy could threaten that strong bond as visas come into question.
Following millions of dollars in donations and a recent lavish dinner with many of the world's tech leaders, Donald Trump has earned himself some powerful allies that neither side would likely want to shed.
This arguably mutually beneficial relationship has seen significant progress on the artificial intelligence front for the United States, and a number of the country's biggest companies have also started to move their production to American soil thanks to the president's controversial tariffs.
However, all that could be put into jeopardy follows news of plans from the Department of Homeland Security, as a major new Trump policy that has been brewing for months could shatter relationships between the president and key figures like Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, and Jeff Bezos.
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As reported by the Independent, Homeland Security is seemingly going to altering the current rules for the H-1B visa process which allows a large percentage of foreign workers in the tech industry to come to the United States.
It currently operates as a lottery process and issues 85,000 new visas every single year, yet the new ruling would aim to remove the random element and favor the highest-paying jobs overall.
Currently, around 60 percent of all issues H-1B visas go to jobs in the tech industry, with Amazon being the single largest sponsor in 2025 so far according to data from Newsweek.
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If this were to be removed – which many key Trump allies are aiming for – then this would have a significant impact on the staff available to these big tech companies, especially as the visa itself operates on a three-year rolling process.
This isn't the first time that H-1Bs have dominated the political conversation in the last year, as it became a major sticking point around December last year when Elon Musk any a number of other tech leaders argued that they were 'essential' for the industry.
Musk himself was able to work in America as a result of a H-1B visa, and previously outlined that he would "go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend."
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Trump's position appears to be somewhat unclear at the moment though, as while he strongly opposed H-1Bs in his first term, he has praised the process within the last year, calling himself a "believer" who has used the program "many times."
Many people close to Trump – including far right commentator Laura Loomer and Vice President JD Vance – have registered their opposition, with the latter slamming what he called the "bulls***" story that tech companies can't find American workers to do the same jobs.