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Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, a Democratic megadonor, is backing President Donald Trump’s executive order to create a $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applicants, calling it ā€œa great solution.ā€

Hastings on Sunday said implementing the visa fee would ensure visas are used for ā€œvery high-value jobs,ā€ thus eliminating the visa lottery system and providing more certainty for employers. His public support for Trump’s proclamation comes a year after he doled out $7 million to a PAC closely aligned with former Vice President Kamala Harris’s failed 2024 presidential campaign.

ā€œI’ve worked on H1-B Politics for 30 years. Trump’s $100K per year tax is a great solution. It will mean H1-B is used just for very high value jobs, which will mean no lottery needed, and more certainty for those jobs,ā€ Hastings said in an X postĀ Sunday.

Hastings and his wife have given over $20 million to the Democratic Party throughout the past few years, cementing the Netflix co-founder as one of the biggest donors to the party. The Netflix executive also gave $1.5 million to former President Joe Biden in 2020 and $100,000 in 2024 — before becoming one of his most influential donors to call for the president to end his reelection bid.

Prominent tech leaders and Trump backers, such as Elon Musk — a former H-1B holder himself — and Vivek Ramaswamy, have publicly touted the H-1B program as a legal immigration route to fill gaps in key industries.

Ramaswamy notably justified his support of the visa program claiming that America does ā€œnot produce the best engineersā€ in a viral December 2024 post. Musk said in an X post the same month that the ā€œpermanent shortage of excellent engineering talentā€ is a limiting factor in Silicon Valley.

However, some prominent conservatives have been critical of the visa. Longtime Trump confidant Steve Bannon blastedā€œbig tech oligarchsā€ for supporting the H-1B program on his ā€œWar Roomā€ podcast in December 2024.

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The H-1B program allows foreign nationals employed in specialty occupations, such as technology and engineering, to enter the U.S. workforce. Over 400,000 people apply for the program — which only has roughly 85,000 spots available — every year.

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