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22-09-2025
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that will add a $100,000 (£74,000) annual fee for applicants to the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers.
Trump’s order mentions “abuse” of the program and will restrict entry unless payment is made.
Critics have long argued that H-1Bs undercut the American workforce, while supporters including billionaire Elon Musk; argue it allows the US to attract top talent from around the world.
In another order, Trump set up a new “gold card” to fast-track visas for certain immigrants in exchange for fees starting at £1m.
Trump’s order is due to come into force on 21 September. It would only apply to new requests but companies would have to pay the same amount for each applicant for six years, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.
“The company needs to decide… is the person valuable enough to have a $100,000-a-year payment to the government, or they should head home, and they should go hire an American,” he said, adding; “all of the big companies are on board.”
Since 2004, the number of H-1B applications has been capped at 85,000 per year.
Until now, H-1B visas have carried various administrative fees totaling around $1,500.
Data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shows that applications for H-1B visas for the next fiscal year fell to about 359,000, a four-year low.
The greatest beneficiary of the program the previous fiscal year was Amazon, followed by tech giants Tata, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google, according to government statistics.
Late on Friday, Amazon told employees with H-1B visas who were already in the US to remain there.
According to an internal advisory, seen by Business Insider, the company said those abroad should “try to return before tomorrow’s deadline if possible”.
Anyone unable to make it back before the order takes effect should avoid attempting US re-entry “until further guidance is provided”, the company is also quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, India’s leading trade body Nasscom said it was concerned by the edict and that the one-day deadline created “considerable uncertainty for businesses, professionals, and students across the world”.
India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved applications, media reports, citing government data.
China was said to come in second at 11.7%.
Tahmina Watson, a founding attorney at Watson Immigration Law, told media that the ruling could be a “nail in the coffin” for many of her clients that are mostly small businesses and start-ups.
“Almost everyone’s going to be priced out. This $100,000 as an entry point is going to have a devastating impact,” she added, noting that many small or medium-sized companies “will tell you they actually can’t find workers to do the job”.
“When employers sponsor foreign talent, more often than not, they’re doing that because they have not been able to fulfil those positions,” Watson added.
Jorge Lopez, the chair of the immigration and global mobility practice group at Littler Mendelson PC, said a $100,000 fee “will put the brakes on American competitiveness in the tech sector and all industries”.
Some companies might consider setting up operations outside the US, though doing so can be challenging in practice, he added. (Int’l News Desk)
