Wall Street banks and tech companies big and small were scrambling on Saturday to figure out how their tens of thousands of employees would be affected by President Trump’s proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee for visas granted to skilled foreign workers.

上周六，特朗普总统宣布对技术型外籍雇员签证征收10万美元费用的消息令华尔街的银行以及大小科技公司陷入忙乱，针对此事将如何影响成千上万的员工进行事态评估。

The change set off immediate confusion over the exact rules and how they would be enforced. Shortly after Mr. Trump signed the proclamation on Friday, employees at Microsoft, Amazon and JPMorgan received notices advising those with H-1B visas who were outside the United States to return before the new rules take effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday.

这一政策变动立刻引发了关于具体细则及执行方式的困惑。上周五特朗普签署公告后不久，微软、亚马逊和摩根大通的员工立即收到通知，建议持H-1B签证且目前身处美国境外的员工在新规生效前（美东时间上周日晚12:01）返美。

The Trump administration sought to address the confusion on Saturday by saying that the fee would only apply to new applicants, and renewals or current visa holders would not be affected. In a post on social media, the White House said the change would “not impact the ability of any current visa holder to travel to/from the U.S.”

为了缓解混乱局面，特朗普政府上周六试图予以澄清，表示该收费仅适用于新的申请者，续签或现有签证持有者不受影响。白宫在社交媒体发文强调，新规“不会影响任何现有签证持有者往返美国的能力”。

Still, many executives, general counsels and human resources departments, as well as their immigration lawyers, said they were coming down on the side of caution this weekend. Several companies and attorneys had already urged workers to return to the United States as soon as possible. Many kept their eyes glued on the White House social media accounts for any pertinent clarification.

尽管如此，众多企业高管、总法律顾问、人力资源部门及其移民律师在周末仍倾向于采取谨慎态度。多家公司与律师已敦促员工尽快返美。为了获取相关澄清信息，很多人紧盯白宫社交媒体账号。

“We acknowledge that this is an uncertain time for our people on H-1B visas and your families,” Jacqueline Arthur, head of human capital management at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a memo on Saturday to employees. The memo said that Goldman was working with its lawyers “to review the specifics of the order as more detail becomes available to communicate with you accordingly.”

高盛人力资本主管杰奎琳·阿瑟上周六在给员工的备忘录中写道：“我们理解，这对持有H-1B签证的同仁及其家人而言充满不确定性。”备忘录称，高盛正与律师团队合作，“在更多细节公布后研究该命令的具体内容，并及时与你们沟通。”

Bernhard Mueller, co-chair of the immigration practice group at Ogletree Deakins, said he had been flooded with calls from executives and corporate board members about the new rules and how to communicate with employees about them. “There’s a lot of question marks all over this,” he said early Saturday. “We are still flying in somewhat foggy conditions.”

奥格特里·迪金斯律师事务所移民业务组联席主席伯恩哈德·穆勒表示，他已接到许多来自企业高管和董事会成员的电话，询问新规及如何与员工沟通。“围绕整件事仍有很多疑问，”他在上周六早些时候说。“我们仿佛仍在迷雾中飞行。”

Late Saturday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a memo underscoring that Mr. Trump’s proclamation only applied “prospectively to petitions that have not yet been filed.”

上周六深夜，美国公民及移民服务局发布备忘录强调，特朗普总统的公告仅“适用于尚未提交的申请”。

Still, the policy change represents a significant overhaul of how the United States distributes what are known as H-1B visas. The visas, which play a crucial role in helping employers fill jobs in the tech industry and beyond, have been at the center of a deep immigration debate.

尽管如此，这一政策变化仍标志着美国H-1B签证分配制度的重大改革。这种对科技行业及其他领域雇主填补职位空缺至关重要的签证，长期以来一直处于激烈的移民辩论的中心。

Immigration hard-liners contend that the visa program hurts Americans because companies have brought in foreign workers at lower wages, while many business leaders say the program helps American companies stay competitive.

移民强硬派认为H-1B签证项目损害了美国人的利益，因为公司会以较低工资引进外籍雇员；许多商界领袖则表示，该项目有助于美国企业保持竞争力。

White House officials said the policy change would help ensure that companies were giving priority to hiring domestic workers. “President Trump promised to put American workers first, and this common sense action does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down wages,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement.

白宫官员称，这一政策调整将有助于确保公司优先雇佣本土员工。白宫发言人泰勒·罗杰斯在一份声明中说：“特朗普总统承诺把美国劳动者放在首位，而这项合乎常理的举措通过遏止企业滥用签证制度、抑制工资下行趋势，正是在兑现这一承诺。”

But executives and industry trade groups said they worried about how the steep fee would affect businesses’ ability to fill critical positions. A spokesman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the group was working with the Trump administration and its members to “understand the full implications and the best path forward.”

但一些企业高管和行业协会表示，他们担心高额费用会影响企业填补关键岗位的能力。美国商会的发言人表示，该组织正与特朗普政府以及商会成员合作，“以全面了解这一政策的影响，并寻找最佳的应对路径”。

“We’re concerned about the impact on employees, their families and American employers,” Matt Letourneau, a spokesman for the chamber, said in a statement.

“我们担心其对员工、他们的家庭及美国雇主造成的冲击，”商会发言人马特·勒图尔诺在声明中表示。

Amazon, Meta, Google, Apple and Walmart, which are among the biggest users of H-1B visas, either declined to comment or did not respond to a request for comment.

亚马逊、Meta、谷歌、苹果和沃尔玛作为H-1B签证的主要使用者，均拒绝置评或未回应评论请求。

The change was widely expected to be met with lawsuits. Jeff Joseph, the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the organization was working with other groups to file a legal challenge seeking a temporary restraining order as soon as this weekend. Mr. Joseph said the organizations had been making strategy calls over the weekend and working on finding plaintiffs who represent a wide range of industries.

外界普遍预计这一政策变化将面临法律诉讼。美国移民律师协会主席杰夫·约瑟夫表示，该组织正与其他团体合作，准备最早于本周末提起法律诉讼，寻求临时限制令。约瑟夫说，这些组织整个周末都在开策略会议，并努力寻找能代表各个行业的原告。

Benjamin Johnson, the executive director of the association, said the group’s members were “dealing with chaos” as their clients have been scrambling to understand the change. “I’m just hearing confusion and panic,” he said.

该协会执行董事本杰明·约翰逊指出，其成员正在“应对混乱局面”，因为他们的客户正急于弄清楚这一政策变化意味着什么。“我听到的只有困惑与恐慌，”他表示。

Although tech companies receive the most H-1B visas, Mr. Johnson underscored that the new fee would also affect workers in the medical and manufacturing industries as well as at universities who receive H-1B visas. “The numbers of companies and industries where H-1B workers play a really critical role is incredibly broad,” he said.

尽管获得H-1B签证最多的是科技公司，但约翰逊强调，新规中的高额费用也将影响到医疗、制造业以及大学领域的H-1B签证持有者。“依赖H-1B雇员的公司和行业范围实际上非常广泛，”他说。

Some workers who are currently abroad said they were unsure about how to immediately respond. A 29-year-old software engineer with a stamped H-1B visa set to begin in less than 20 days, was tucked into bed in his Munich apartment early Saturday when he realized he might be stuck in Germany.

一些目前身处海外的员工表示一时间不知应当如何应对。一名29岁的软件工程师持已贴签的H-1B签证（原定20天内生效），上周六清晨他躺在慕尼黑公寓的床上时，才意识到自己可能会被困在德国。

微软、亚马逊和摩根大通员工上周五收到通知，建议持H-1B签证且身处美国境外的人员在新规生效前返回美国。

Speaking before the government’s clarification on how the visa fee would be applied, the software engineer, who is an Indian citizen with a German work visa, said he felt “clueless” about how to proceed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was worried about his visa status.His company, he said, had told him to stay put.

这位持有德国工作签的印度籍工程师在政府澄清费用适用范围之前接受采访时表示，他对接下来要怎么办“毫无头绪”。由于担心签证问题，他要求匿名。他说，公司已告知他不要离开德国。

In its email to employees on Friday evening, Microsoft, which has roughly 5,200 employees in the program, said that workers currently in the United States should remain there “for the foreseeable future,” even if it interrupts future travel plans.

微软在上周五晚间发给员工的邮件中表示，公司大约有5200名员工持有H-1B签证。邮件建议目前在美国的员工应当“在可预见的未来”留在美国境内，即使这意味着要打乱未来的旅行计划。

“The critical thing is to stay in the U.S. in order to avoid being denied re-entry,” the advisory said.

“关键在于留在美国境内以避免被拒绝入境，”通知强调。

Some policy experts praised the Trump administration’s change and said it would help ensure that companies are not suppressing wages or giving priority to hiring foreign workers over Americans. Lora Ries, the director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, said the $100,000 fee was a “good start” at reforming the H-1B program because it would make companies prioritize which foreign workers they want to hire.

部分政策专家对特朗普政府的这项改革措施表示赞赏，认为这有助于确保企业不会压低工资水平，或优先聘用外籍员工而非美国人。华盛顿保守派智库传统基金会的边境安全与移民中心主任洛拉·里斯指出，10万美元收费是改革H-1B项目的“良好开端”，这将促使企业更审慎地考虑要优先雇佣哪些外国人才。

“Americans aren’t getting a fair shake at the opportunities because too many employers are bending the system,” Ms. Ries said.

“美国人没有获得公平的就业机会，因为太多雇主在钻制度的空子，”里斯说。

But the policy change also raised concerns about the long-term impact on the U.S. economy and corporate America. Venture capitalists warned that the change would add to concerns surrounding an uneven playing field, with only the nation’s largest companies being able to pay the fees or secure an exemption, as technology giants like Apple and Nvidia have already done with certain tariffs.

但这一政策变化也引发了对美国经济及企业界长期影响的担忧。风险投资家警告，新规将加剧市场对竞争环境不公平的忧虑——只有全国最大的企业才能支付得起这笔费用或争取到豁免，苹果、英伟达等科技巨头就获得了某些关税豁免。

The challenges of complying may be particularly acute for start-ups, many of which operate for years without reaching profitability.

对初创企业而言，合规挑战尤为严峻，因为它们往往要多年才能实现盈利。

“There is not a single company that I have invested in the last 10 years that could afford to pay this,” said the venture capitalist and private equity investor Alan Patricof.

“在过去10年我投资的企业中，没有一家能负担得起这笔费用，”风险投资人、私募股权投资者艾伦·帕特里科夫说。

The government caps H-1B visas at 85,000 a year, and visa holders can also bring in their immediate family in a related program. The vast majority are typically granted to Indian citizens.

政府将H-1B签证每年的发放数量限额为8.5万个，签证持有者还可通过相关项目携带直系亲属。该签证绝大多数发放给了印度籍公民。

The Indian government issued a statement on Saturday saying that it was still determining “the full implications” of the new visa rules. But, the Ministry of External Affairs said, “This measure is likely to have humanitarian consequences by way of the disruption caused for families.”

印度政府上周六发表声明称，仍在评估新签证政策的“全面影响”。但印度外交部同时指出：“这项措施可能造成家庭分离，从而引发人道主义后果。"