In a sweeping move that has sent shockwaves through the technology sector and beyond, President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order imposing a $100,000 annual fee on each new H-1B visa application, marking a dramatic overhaul of the United States’ skilled worker visa system. The announcement, made on September 19, 2025, is part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to reshape immigration policy, with a particular focus on limiting legal pathways for foreign workers in specialty occupations.
The H-1B visa program, long a mainstay for American companies looking to fill high-skill roles in technology, finance, health care, and academia, allows employers to hire foreign workers in specialized fields. According to Reuters, over 70% of H-1B beneficiaries in 2024 came from India, with China accounting for another 11.7%. The United States approved nearly 400,000 H-1B applications in fiscal year 2024, and the program has become a lifeline for companies seeking to bridge talent gaps, particularly in STEM fields.
But that lifeline now comes with a hefty price tag. Under the new order, companies will be required to pay $100,000 per year for each H-1B worker, for up to six years—the typical duration allowed for these visas. The fee applies only to new applicants, a White House official clarified, and it remains undecided whether the total could be charged as $300,000 upfront for the three-year visa period or collected annually. If the volume of applications remains steady, the policy could generate as much as $40 billion in annual federal revenue from businesses, Straight Arrow News reported.
President Trump framed the move as a way to curb what he called the “overuse” of the H-1B program and to encourage companies to invest in American talent. “We need workers,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office. “We need great workers. And this pretty much ensures that that’s what’s going to happen.” He added, “If you’re going to train somebody, you’re gonna train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who joined Trump at the signing, echoed these sentiments. “Either the person is very valuable to the company and America, or they’re going to depart, and the company is going to hire an American,” Lutnick said. “And that’s the point of immigration: Hire Americans and make sure the people coming in are the top, top people.” He added pointedly, “Stop the nonsense of letting people just come into this country on these visas that were given away for free.”
The administration claims the new fee will help raise American wages by discouraging companies from using the visas to bring in lower-wage international workers. Officials also argue that such a high expense will limit the number of applicants, providing more certainty for companies accustomed to the H-1B lottery system, which currently grants 85,000 new visas annually—65,000 for general applicants and 20,000 for those with advanced degrees.
However, the business community, especially tech giants, is already feeling the strain. As of late June, Amazon had over 10,000 workers using H-1B visas, the most of any company, according to government data cited by The New York Times. Other major users include Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Walmart, and Deloitte. After the announcement, both Microsoft and JPMorgan advised their H-1B visa employees to remain in the United States and urged those currently abroad to return before the new fee structure took effect at midnight on September 20, 2025, Reuters reported. “H-1B visa holders who are currently in the U.S. should remain in the U.S. and avoid international travel until the government issues clear travel guidance,” read an email to JPMorgan employees from Ogletree Deakins, the law firm handling visa applications for the bank.
The impact is already rippling through markets. Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions, a company heavily reliant on H-1B workers, closed down nearly 5% after the news broke. U.S.-listed shares of Indian tech firms Infosys and Wipro also tumbled between 2% and 5%. With India accounting for the lion’s share of H-1B recipients, the move is seen as a potential blow to the global flow of talent between the U.S. and South Asia.
Critics have not minced words about the policy’s potential fallout. “The most anti-legal immigration administration in American history continues to threaten US prosperity and freedom,” said David J. Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, on X. “This action would kill the H-1B visa and ban some of the highest-value employees in America. Utterly incomprehensible.” Doug Rand, a former senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, questioned the legality of the policy: “Tying an entry ban to a fee, let alone a $100,000 fee, isn’t likely to survive five seconds in court.” Tom Jawetz, a former senior attorney at the Department of Homeland Security, was even more blunt: “This is how the mob operates when it demands protection money. It’s not how the laws of a country are administered.”
Business leaders and investors have also raised concerns that the steep fee could deter the world’s brightest minds from coming to the U.S., undermining the country’s innovation edge. “If the U.S. ceases to attract the best talent, it drastically reduces its ability to innovate and grow the economy,” said Deedy Das, a partner at Menlo Ventures, on X. Some analysts warn that smaller tech firms and startups, lacking the resources of industry giants, could be hit hardest by the new costs, potentially pushing high-value work overseas and hampering America’s competitiveness in fast-moving fields like artificial intelligence. “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,” said eMarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman.
The policy is widely expected to face legal challenges. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, noted, “Congress has only authorized the government to set fees to recover the cost of adjudicating an application.” The new fee, he argued, goes far beyond that mandate.
The fee announcement comes on the heels of a high-profile immigration enforcement action: a raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia, where hundreds of South Korean workers—many on H-1B visas—were detained. Construction of the $7 billion plant has now been suspended until at least 2026, casting further doubt on the stability of foreign investment in the U.S.
In a parallel move, President Trump also unveiled a new expedited visa program dubbed the “gold card.” The program, previewed earlier in the year, offers U.S. permanent residency to individuals who can pay $1 million, or $2 million if sponsored by a corporation. Commerce Secretary Lutnick said the gold card is expected to replace other green card programs, positioning it as a way for the government to raise billions of dollars. “You can prove exceptional value to the United States of America by contributing a million dollars to the United States of America,” Lutnick explained on a call with reporters.
For now, the debate over the future of skilled immigration in the U.S. is only intensifying. The new H-1B fee pits the Trump administration’s immigration hard-liners—who argue that foreign workers depress wages and displace Americans—against business leaders who say the program is essential for maintaining U.S. competitiveness. As legal challenges loom and the tech industry scrambles to adapt, the only certainty is that the landscape for skilled immigration in America has changed overnight—and the world is watching closely.
