Trump imposes $100,000 application fee on H-1B visa

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday (local time) issued a proclamation imposing a USD 100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications.

The action aims to curb the overuse of the program, allowing companies to bring in only “highly skilled” workers from other countries. The Trump administration believes that this move will create and protect jobs for US workers.

White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf emphasised that the proclamation will ensure that companies bring very high-skilled workers who are not replaceable by American workers.

“One of the most abused visa systems is the H1-B non-immigrant visa programme. This is supposed to allow highly skilled labourers who work in fields that Americans don’t work in to come into the United States of America. What this proclamation will do is raise the fee that companies pay to sponsor H-1B applicants to $100,000. This will ensure that the people they’re bringing in are actually very highly skilled and that they’re not replaceable by American workers,” he said.

The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa which allows US-based companies to hire and employ foreign workers for speciality jobs like science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and IT (High skills and at least a bachelor’s degree).

United States Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, said, “The whole idea is that no more will these big tech companies or other big companies train foreign workers. They have to pay the government $100,000, then they have to pay the employee. So it’s just not economic. If you’re going to train somebody, you’re going to 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. That’s the policy here. All of the big companies are on board.”

The move marks the latest in a series of efforts from the administration to crack down on immigration and could significantly impact industries that depend heavily on H-1B workers.

People born in India are the largest beneficiaries, accounting for more than 70% of all approved H-1B petitions annually since 2015.

Earlier, Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis slammed the H-1B visa program, calling it a “total scam” and arguing that it allows companies to replace American workers with foreign labour.

During an interview on Fox News on Wednesday (local time), he claimed that companies often train American workers alongside H-1B visa holders, only to lay off the Americans and hire the foreign workers. DeSantis added that this practice is unacceptable and hurts American workers.
United States Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick also criticised the current H1B visa system, calling it a scam.

In a post on X, he said, “The current H1B visa system is a scam that lets foreign workers fill American job opportunities. Hiring American workers should be the priority of all great American businesses. Now is the time to hire American.” (ANI)