Cashing in on migrants (and discouraging them): Americans want tons per year for work visas

Both plans were announced yesterday. The high cost of the knowledge migrant visa is a sensitive issue for tech companies. Earlier this year, for example, Elon Musk, then a confidant of President Trump, opposed plans to end the program.

That H-1B visa is primarily used by workers from India, who are hired by American tech companies. This is a thorn in the side of this government, which wants to prevent all forms of migration.

"If you're going to train someone, you're going to train someone who just graduated from one of our great universities. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people who will take our jobs," said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

The high costs, in this case, appear to be primarily a way to discourage the use of the visa program. This is quite different for the other program announced yesterday.

That's the Trump Gold Card. A permanent residency permit for wealthy individuals. A Gold Card costs a million dollars, and in return, your residency application is processed expeditiously.

Companies can also apply for a Gold Card for their employees, but it costs $2 million. This large sum serves as "proof that the applicant will make a substantial contribution to the US." According to Trump, the Gold Card could quickly generate $100 billion for the US Treasury.

That would, by the way, mean that 100,000 migrants are willing to pay one million dollars for a residence permit.

Trump wants to limit the influx of people from abroad, but he himself is not welcome everywhere: