WASHINGTON, D.C. — Immigration lawyers in the United States had a busy weekend. Thanks to President Donald Trump’s executive order on Friday, which introduced a US$100,000 fee for every H‑1B visa application, effective Sunday, legal teams spent Saturday fielding phone calls and filing as many visa applications as they could.

The phones have not stopped ringing since.

Having dropped without warning, the rule change came as a shock to companies throughout the U.S. and aspiring visa holders worldwide. The new, nonrefundable fee — a nearly 5,000 per cent increase from the roughly US$2,000 companies paid between the application and asylum fees before — is to be paid by companies for each foreign worker applying for an H-1B visa from Sept. 21 onward.

Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the i

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