United States President Donald Trump has signed a sweeping proclamation that imposes a $100,000 annual fee on companies seeking to sponsor H-1B visas for foreign skilled workers. The move, announced Friday, marks a sharp escalation in his administration’s ongoing efforts to reshape the U.S. immigration system in favour of domestic labour.
Speaking at the White House, Trump framed the policy shift as a strategy to attract elite talent while generating revenue. “The main thing is, we’re going to have great people coming in, and they’re going to be paying,” he told reporters.
Alongside the H-1B overhaul, Trump also introduced a new “gold card” visa, offering U.S. permanent residency to individuals able to pay $1 million. The administration did not immediately release full details about the implementation of the new visa categories.
The H-1B visa programme, established in 1990, allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in speciality occupations — typically in STEM fields — for an initial period of three years, extendable to six. Currently, 85,000 visas are granted each year via a lottery system.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defended the change, arguing it would ensure that only the most highly skilled individuals are brought in. “If you’re going to train somebody, train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land,” he said. “Stop bringing in people to take our jobs.”
However, the steep fee — amounting to $300,000 over a standard three-year visa term — is expected to reshape the H-1B landscape. Experts warn it could deter companies, particularly start-ups and smaller tech firms, from hiring international talent.
“This creates disincentive to attract the world’s smartest talent to the U.S.,” said Deedy Das, a partner at Menlo Ventures, on social media platform X. “If the U.S. ceases to attract the best talent, it drastically reduces its ability to innovate and grow the economy.”
Some analysts noted that companies may shift high-value operations overseas in response. “In the short term, Washington may collect a windfall; in the long term, the U.S. risks taxing away its innovation edge, trading dynamism for short-sighted protectionism,” warned eMarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman.
Legal experts also raised red flags, pointing out that federal law permits visa fees only to cover administrative processing costs. “Congress has only authorized the government to set fees to recover the cost of adjudicating an application,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council.
Under the current H-1B system, employers pay relatively modest application fees, with total costs rarely exceeding several thousand dollars per worker.
Despite potential hurdles, Lutnick insisted that “all the big companies are on board” with the new $100,000 fee. “We’ve spoken to them,” he said, though he acknowledged that details were still being finalised.
This year, Amazon was the top recipient of H-1B visas, receiving over 10,000 approvals. Other major beneficiaries included Tata Consultancy, Microsoft, Apple, and Google. California hosts the highest concentration of H-1B workers, and Indian nationals made up the largest group of recipients last year, accounting for 71 percent, followed by China at 11.7 percent.
The Trump administration has consistently sought to tighten immigration policies, including introducing stricter vetting for international students and implementing travel bans affecting several countries. It has also proposed replacing the H-1B lottery with a system favouring higher-paying employers — a move aligned with the latest fee hike.
Critics argue that the policy risks weakening U.S. competitiveness in fields like artificial intelligence, where global competition is intensifying, particularly with China.
As the new proclamation takes effect, its legal and economic impacts are expected to face mounting scrutiny in the coming months.
Source: Al Jazeera
SMS/
