Why not set a salary floor for H1-B candidates? That's how the equivalent works in Germany (the floor is quite low imo but if it's too low it can be set higher). If you set the floor (maybe per profession) for software engineers at say $250k p.a. there'll be little benefit to bringing in unskilled labor, but the occasional great candidate could still get in.

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tao_oat 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There is a salary floor already, but it's pretty low at $60k/year.

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ido 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Sounds like it would have been simpler to just raise it to $160k instead of introducing a $100k fee.

	▲	_rm 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Not simpler if the goal is tuk urr jaaabs

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fmobus 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I like Germany's BlueCard system (being a BlueCard immigrant myself), but implementing it for the US would have some extra complexity given the wild regional disparity in wages.

	▲	bilekas 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The US has a new GoldCard system actually. : https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/the-...