Professional services firms, tech groups and manufacturing conglomerates have found once-routine visa applications face longer wait times and are more likely to be denied — leaving some employees stuck abroad — as the president tries to narrow the pathways for legal immigration.

  White House policies including a $100,000 fee for new applicants to the H-1B scheme for specialised workers and enhanced social media activity reviews have upended multinationals’ abilities to bring top engineers, consultants and scientists from across the globe to the US, according to more than a dozen employees, executives and recruiters who spoke to the FT.