Passengers get off plane after news breaks about Trump $100,000 visa fee

An Emirates flight was about to take off in San Francisco en route to Dubai on Friday when news broke that President Donald Trump would demand a $100,000 application fee for anyone trying to get an H-1B visa. After the announcement, chaos ensued, according to a Bloomberg report published on Monday.

The Emirates pilot announced to the cabin that “due to the current circumstances, obviously they are unprecedented for us here at Emirates, we are aware that a number of passengers do not wish to travel with us and that is perfectly fine."

Normally, after the cabin door closes, they wouldn't allow anyone off or on. This time, they opened the door so folks could remain on U.S. soil.

At times, companies bring in talent from other countries to work in the United States. It isn't unheard of for there to be fees, but $100,000 is a significant one. Those in the U.S. on an H1-B visa account for about 1% of the labor market, economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin told MSNBC on Monday.

According to Bloomberg, people left the Emirates plane, fearing they wouldn't be able to return to the U.S. Others quickly flew back to the U.S. before Sunday, fearing they wouldn't be able to maintain their current status without the hefty payout.

Trump personally uses H1-B visas for his own workers at Mar-a-Lago, The New Yorker reported in 2017.

In 2018, Mar-a-Lago requested 61 additional foreign workers on H1-B visas, ABC News reported then. Under his own law, Trump must now pay the government $6.1 million.

Trump's struggle to find enough American workers has been a long-standing problem. Newsweek reported just last year that Trump was forced to ask for 100 H1-B visas in 2023.

"Mar-a-Lago made the following requests for foreign workers: 53 waiters and waitresses, seven hotel desk clerks, 17 housekeeping cleaners, five first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers, 24 cooks and five bartenders, according to the Department of Labor," reported Newsweek.

It totaled 136 foreign workers for Mar-a-Lago. If this were under his current rule, Trup would owe approximately $13,600,000.