Trump Signs Order Imposing $100,000 Annual Fee on H-1B Visas, Move to Hit Indians Hard
US President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation to impose a new, staggering $100,000 annual application fee for H-1B visas, a dramatic overhaul of the skilled worker program that will disproportionately impact Indian professionals and the major tech companies that hire them . The move, one of the most significant changes to the visa system in decades, is being framed by the administration as a measure to prioritize the American workforce .
Announcing the new policy, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated that companies will be required to pay $100,000 annually for each H-1B visa. “If you’re going to train somebody, train one of the recent graduates from one of our great universities. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs,” Lutnick declared, adding that major companies were “on board” with the change . President Trump echoed this, saying he believed the technology sector would be “very happy” with the new fee .
The H-1B program, which has an annual cap of 85,000 visas, is heavily relied upon by US tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google to fill roles in science and engineering . The new fee represents a monumental shift from the current system, where companies pay a few thousand dollars in various fees after a candidate is selected through a lottery . Indian nationals are by far the largest beneficiaries of the program, accounting for 71% of all approved H-1B visas, and are expected to be the most affected by the new rule .
The proclamation has already drawn criticism and questions about its legality. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, questioned whether such a high fee is legal, noting that Congress has only authorized the government to set fees to recover the cost of processing an application . The move is the latest in a series of efforts by the Trump administration to restrict legal immigration, including a recent pilot program demanding large bonds for tourist and business visas from certain countries. For now, tech companies and prospective skilled workers from India are left facing immense uncertainty over the future of the program.
