Key Points
- The H-1B visa program is a cornerstone of the United States' workforce, granting entry to 85,000 workers each year.
- Over the past five years, key players in Australia's tech industry have called on the government for a sector boost.
- Experts said the decision from the US presented an "enormous" opportunity for Australia to access high-level talent.
United States President Donald Trump's recent order to raise the country's fee for skilled migrant visa applications to US$100,000 ($151,000) has shaken the tech industry, visa holders and hopeful applicants.
The fee increase is set to greatly reduce the number of future skilled-worker applications made by US-based companies, especially for tech giants like Amazon, Meta and Google, which send the bulk of H-1B visa requests.
The H-1B visa program is a cornerstone of the US' skilled workforce, with 85,000 permits granted every year, largely in tech.
In its 21 September decision, the White House said the visa, which was intended to bring skilled temporary workers into the US, had been "deliberately exploited" to replace American workers.
It later said the fee would be a one-off for new visa applicants and would not apply to applications submitted before 21 September.
In Australia, looming skills shortages and a flagging tech sector have led to growing calls for an overhaul of the country's migration program.
As Trump clamps down on foreign talent, closing the door on nearly 100,000 workers a year, could Australia open its own?
An 'opportunity' for the tech sector
Over the past five years, key players in Australia's tech industry have called on the government for a sector boost.
In August 2022, the federal government announced it would commit to a target of 1.2 million tech-related jobs by 2030.
The goal, informed by consultation with tech industry groups including the Tech Council of Australia, would require more than 500,000 workers to join the hiring pool.
At the time, the government said its first step to achieving this was to "accelerate" processing times by clearing its backlog of millions of visa applications lodged during the COVID-19 pandemic period, prioritising "skilled workers".
In December 2024, the federal government added a specialised visa stream for in-demand skills to replace the former temporary skills visa. The "modernised" skilled occupation list contained more than 450 roles, especially in construction, cyber security, agriculture and health.
Former deputy secretary of the immigration department, Abul Rizvi, told SBS News the decision from the US presented an "enormous" opportunity for Australia to access high-level talent.
"It really does boil down to the preparedness of Australian industry and Australian employers to recruit these people. If they actively go out and recruit these people, then the visa categories are there to bring the people into Australia very quickly to enable them to get to work in Australia quickly. And find a pathway to permanent residents and citizenship.
"The key will be whether Australian employers wish to sponsor these people."
The Australian government announced in early September it would not make changes to the immigration cap, with its 2025-2026 intake to remain at the same levels and settings as the 2024-2025 program.
In 2024, the largest cohort of migrant arrivals consisted of temporary students, comprising 207,000 of a total 446,000 in the twelve months to June 2024.
Some of Australia's biggest tech companies agree that Trump's announcement presents an opportunity for Australia, but they stress that policy and visa changes need to be made to entice skilled visa applicants.
Chief financial officer of Australian business management software company Deputy, Emma Seymour, said Australia would become a "top-tier choice" for skilled migrant workers if changes were made.
These included "rapid visa approvals, recognition of qualifications, partner work rights, and a transparent route to permanent residency".
"Australia is in a unique time zone, bridging the US and Asia, with world-class universities and a trusted regulatory environment," she said.
"If we pair that with targeted skilled migration, we can scale globally competitive product companies from here, especially in areas like HR and workplace tech and AI applications for real-world industries."
Seymour said Deputy had seen "firsthand" how the right engineering, data, and product talent all contribute to productivity and revenue growth.
"Technology is now Australia’s third-largest industry, and with AI transforming every sector of the economy, the opportunity is bigger than ever … we just need to move fast enough to capture the full opportunity in front of us."
'I don't think we're going to become the new Silicon Valley'
But senior lecturer in migration policy at the University of Sydney, Anna Boucher, questioned whether H-1B candidates, who could "go anywhere in the world", would choose Australia as their destination.
"We don't have as large an intake into our skilled immigration program. And I guess more importantly, we're not really seen as a global tech centre yet," she said.
She said it was also about having adequate infrastructure to support opportunities.
"Whether we have that pipeline in place to suddenly accept all these super-talented former H-1B visa holders, I'm not sure. I don't think it's just an immigration issue though. Arguably, there would be capacity, but we just don't have a tech-focused visa in Australia."
Boucher said findings from a 2019 study on migrant interests and motivations found Australia had some draw-cards for potential skilled workers outside of its visa system, including that it was less expensive and had good weather in comparison to the US.
"I mean, they sound ridiculous, but these are the kinds of things, based on my study, that migrants are interested in," she said.
"We have great weather, we have pretty good schools."
She said since 2019, things had shifted, meaning Australia's democracy itself may have become an enticing factor.
"Maybe that security is what's become important, as there are fewer democracies in the world," she said.
"These are things that motivate migrants, but the US has always been such a centre of migration that I would not be surprised if big tech just take the hit, because for them the benefits of this skilled labour far outweigh the price.
"No doubt this price point has been picked for a reason, it's what the Trump administration believes they can get away with.
"I don't think we're going to become the new Silicon Valley."
Issues for migrants
Yaser Naseri mentors migrant and refugee workers struggling to find work that matches their skill set in Australia.
He told SBS News that when he arrived in the country, his qualification in industrial electricity was invalid, and even after re-skilling at university, he found it difficult to find work that matched his skill set.
"I sent around 90 applications and I got a handful of interviews only, so that was really surprising. I thought it would be much easier," he said.
He mentioned that Australian employers tend to place a lot of importance on local experience, which made it difficult for people coming to the country for career opportunities to find adequate work.
"It's like starting from scratch," he said.
"Although you have experience and qualifications, you have to learn how to navigate the system, how to build your network, how you approach hiring managers and how you present and sell yourself. There are big challenges — lack of knowledge, cultural differences, lack of language — all at play here."
Recent analysis has revealed a gap between Australia's demand for skilled workers and their ability to integrate into appropriate roles once here.
According to a report commissioned by Settlement Services International (SSI), more than 500,000 migrant workers already in Australia are working below their skill level.
SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis said Australia’s migration program was designed to attract international talent, particularly to address national skills shortages, but the research showed that more than 621,000 migrants were unable to work to their full potential.
The report found every state and territory would benefit financially if migrant workers were able to access appropriate job outcomes, with the report's authors estimating Australia's economy could be losing $9 billion per year.
But Rizvi said he doubted whether those issues were likely to affect skilled workers sought out by Australian companies.
"Potential H-1B workers are not the group who would be struggling to get their skills recognised in Australia," he said.
"The group that is struggling to get their skills recognised in Australia tend to be skilled migrants who have come either through the family stream or as secondary applicants in the skill stream or as humanitarian entrants.
"They face the biggest barriers in getting their skills recognised, and there the range of issues are multiple."
Rizvi said the challenge really lies with the tech sector to make use of Australia's skilled migrant visa pathways.
"This is certainly an opportunity and I think the question really should be put to the Australian industry, the big, the big tech players in Australia, are they going to target these people?"
