President Trump announced a drastic shift in the H-1B visa program, increasing the fee from just $1,000 to $100,000 in an effort to encourage American companies to hire fewer foreign workers.
.@POTUS signs a Proclamation to restrict the entry of certain H-1B aliens into the U.S. as nonimmigrant workers, requiring a $100,000 payment to accompany or supplement H-1B petitions for new applications.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 19, 2025
AMERICA FIRST! pic.twitter.com/AzAUJzXawV
Before the announcement, foreign workers paid a modest fee to enter a lottery system. Those selected then paid a larger fee to submit a full visa application. In most cases, the hiring company covered these costs, a practice the Trump administration argues discourages the employment of American workers and runs counter to its “America First” agenda.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the top companies sponsoring these visas, including Amazon, Google, and Tesla, have worked closely with President Trump in his second term.
Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce, said that these higher fees were to ensure that American companies “hire Americans and make sure the people that come into the country are top, top people.” Lutnick has previously criticized the H-1B visa program.
The current H1B visa system is a scam that lets foreign workers fill American job opportunities.
— Howard Lutnick (@howardlutnick) August 26, 2025
Hiring American workers should be the priority of all great American businesses. Now is the time to hire American. pic.twitter.com/l27HEhF7C3
The executive order signed on Friday not only increases the fee for H-1B visas, but also rolled out President Trump's "gold card," where non-Americans can pay $1 million for an expedited visa process into the United States. “We’ll be taking in hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said. “We’re going to take that money and we’re going to reduce taxes, we’re going to reduce debt.”
The order has thrown U.S. companies into turmoil, and the White House has raced to clarify it. Many were unsure if they would have to pay the increased fee for their workers currently on H-1B visas who needed to return to the United States. Several companies mobilized their HR departments to review which foreign employees were still in the country and which would need to return, even keeping staff on standby to help book flights if necessary, according to the Wall Street Journal. Immigration lawyers for the companies attempted to provide both the companies and visa holders with more information, but found themselves with little to offer.
On Saturday, the White House clarified that the policy shift applies only to new H-1B visas, not to renewals or winners of the 2025 lottery. Officials also emphasized that the $100,000 fee is a one-time charge, not an annual requirement.
However, some mixed signals were coming from the administration, as Howard Lutnick told reporters that “Renewals, first time: the company needs to decide…Is the person valuable enough to have a $100,000 a year payment to the government? Or they should head home and go hire an American.”
Some immigration specialists believe that this is just the beginning of more changes to come to the H-1B visa program. While many tech leaders have said this will put the United States behind when it comes to innovation and productivity,