President Donald Trump signed an executive action on Friday to impose a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas — in an effort to curb what his administration says is overuse of the program.
“We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that that’s what’s going to happen,” Trump said from the Oval Office, where officials detailed how the measure would incentivize companies to employ American workers while still providing a pathway to hire highly skilled foreign workers in specialized fields.
The proclamation will restrict entry under the program unless accompanied by the payment.
In a separate order, Trump also directed the creation of a “gold card” immigration pathway that he said would fast-track visas for certain immigrants in exchange for a hefty fee. The policy will expedite visas for foreigners who pay the US $1 million, while allowing a company to pay $2 million to speed up the process for a foreign worker that it sponsors.
The moves mark the latest in a series of efforts from the administration to crack down on immigration and place sharp new limits on the types of foreigners allowed into the country. They threaten to significantly impact industries that depend heavily on H-1B workers.
The H-1B visa is a work visa that’s valid for three years and can be renewed for another three years. Economists have argued the program allows US companies to maintain competitiveness and grow their business, creating more jobs in the US.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters on a call Friday evening that the administration came to the fee of $100,000 per year, plus vetting costs, after talking with companies.
He noted that the payment structure is still under discussion with the Department of Homeland Security, in terms of “whether we’re going to charge the $300,000 up front or $100,000 a year for the three years.”
Trump’s stance on the H-1B visa program has fluctuated, and the issue has sharply divided his supporters at times.
The president restricted access to foreign worker visas during his first term and has targeted the H-1B program in past remarks – but during the 2024 campaign, he signaled openness to giving some foreign-born workers legal status if they graduated from a US university.
Trump also defended the program last December, telling the New York Post that he’s “a believer in H-1B.”
“I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” Trump told the news outlet at the time.
Trump’s remarks came after entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, whom Trump initially tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, defended the program, igniting sharp criticism from MAGA loyalists hoping to restrict immigration.
65,000 H-1B visas are granted annually, with another 20,000 reserved just for people who hold advanced degrees from US higher education institutions. Demand for the visa often exceeds the supply, triggering a lottery system.
Many companies use H-1B visas to help fill their workforces. But tech is the sector most commonly associated with H-1Bs. Tech firms big and small say they need the H-1B program to hire trained talent that they can’t find at home.
Trump has previously opposed the H-1B visa program as part of his platform to encourage US companies to prioritize American labor over hiring foreign workers. During his 2016 campaign, Trump accused US companies of using H-1B visas “for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay.”
In 2020, Trump restricted access to H-1B visas on several occasions, part of his administration’s effort to curb legal immigration while responding to the changing economic conditions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The so-called gold card program that Trump also unveiled is also designed to overhaul the nation’s posture toward foreign workers, aiming to tip the balance of immigrants toward entrepreneurs and high earners.
A brainchild of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the program will speed entry for foreigners who can afford the $1 million fee — or get their employer to pay twice as much to sponsor them. In the Oval Office on Friday, Lutnick criticized the existing green card process for immigrants seeking to live and work permanently in the US, arguing it resulted in the country taking in the “bottom quartile” of workers from abroad.
“We’re going to only take extraordinary people at the very top,” Lutnick said of the gold card program.
This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.
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