A COALITION of business groups warned President Donald Trump that a newly announced US$100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications risks harming the US economy and urged the administration to avoid changes to the skilled worker programme that impose added burdens on companies.

In a letter sent on Friday to Trump, roughly a dozen industry organisations representing chipmakers, software companies and retailers said the new fee threatens to crimp a crucial talent pipeline of foreign skilled workers and leave critical jobs unfilled.

“We ask the administration to work with industry on necessary reforms to the H-1B visa program without increasing the significant challenges US employers face recruiting, training, and retaining top talent,” the groups wrote.

The letter, sent two weeks after the president’s H-1B proclamation, was careful to laud Trump’s efforts to bring investment to the US.

Signers included the Business Software Alliance, the semiconductor industry’s SEMI, the National Retail Federation, the Entertainment Software Association and the Information Technology Industry Council, according to a copy seen by Bloomberg News.

The industry groups’ objections marked a rare rebuke from the business community of US policy under the new administration.

Trump announced the H-1B changes at the White House last month, heralding the US$100,000 fee as a way to rein in abuses in the skilled worker programme while pushing US companies to turn more to domestic talent to fill jobs.

A White House spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Higher costs from the new H-1B fees threa...