The Trump administration has recently signed a proclamation on Friday imposing a yearly $100,000 fee on H-1B worker visa applications.
In the recent development, the administration also rolled out a distinct “golden card” visa for individuals who seek to reside permanently in the US after paying $1 million.
The US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at a press conference, “A hundred-thousand dollars a year for H-1B visas, and all of the big companies are on board. We’ve spoken to them.”
“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,” he added.
The decision to impose an annual fee on the companies processing H-1B visas will give a major blow to the US tech industry as it is heavily reliant on workers from India and China.
Under H-1B visas, the companies sponsor the foreign labour force with specialised skills, including engineers, doctors, scientists, and computer programmers to get employment opportunities in the US labor market for three years. However, the duration can be extended to 6 years.
The tech giants also play an important role in approving H-1B visas as in the first half of 2025, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft approved more than 10,000 and 5,000 H-1B visas each respectively.
The recently signed order came on the heels of the Trump administration’s increasing efforts to tackle the issue of immigration by boosting domestic labour.
According to the critics of the H-1B program, the visa system is responsible for reducing wages, sidelining American workers, and crippling domestic growth.
On the contrary, the proponents of the program, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, argue that the workers holding H-1B visas can bridge the talent gap prevailing in global chains and maintain competitiveness.
Slapping hefty fees on companies will "create disincentive to attract the world's smartest talent to the U.S.," said Deedy Das, partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures.