The White House has issued an order requiring a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions — a significant increase from the few thousand dollars some employers currently pay.

The H-1B visa is a type of work permit that lets U.S. companies hire foreign workers for jobs that require special skills, usually in fields like medicine, engineering, computer science or research.

Companies use it when they can’t find enough qualified American workers for those jobs. Each year, the government sets a cap on H-1B visas and employers have to apply through a lottery system.

In Minnesota, places like Mayo Clinic, the University of Minnesota and major tech firms rely on H-1B workers to fill roles like doctors, medical researchers and software engineers. According to federal government data, 541 Minnesota

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