The Trump administration has slapped U.S. companies with a staggering $100,000 “one-time” fee for each new H-1B visa petition, essentially making it far costlier to hire high-skilled foreign talent.
The change is being pitched by the White House as a necessary measure to protect American workers.
Late Friday, the Trump administration declared a sweeping new requirement: companies that sponsor new H-1B visa applicants must pay a $100,000 fee per petition.
According to the press release:
President Donald J. Trump signed a Proclamation to restrict the entry into the United States of certain H-1B aliens as nonimmigrant workers, requiring a $100,000 payment to accompany or supplement H-1B petitions for new applications to curb abuses that displace U.S. workers and undermine national security.
- The Proclamation restricts entry for aliens as nonimmigrants to perform services in specialty occupations in the H-1B program unless their petition is accompanied by a $100,000 payment.
- It directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to restrict approvals for petitions from aliens that are currently outside the United States that are not accompanied by the payment, and allows case-by-case exemptions if in the national interest.
- The Proclamation requires employers to retain documentation of payment remittance, with the Secretary of State verifying payment during the petition process and the Departments of State and Homeland Security denying entry for non-payment for the relevant aliens and taking other relevant steps needed to implement the Proclamation.
- It requires the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security to issue joint guidance for verification, enforcement, audits, and penalties.
- The Proclamation directs the Secretary of Labor to initiative rulemaking to revise the prevailing wage levels for the H-1B program and directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to initiate rulemaking to prioritize high-skilled, high-paid H-1B workers.
Early communications from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested the fee might be annual, and that it could affect existing visa holders.
Here’s Sec of Commerce Howard Lutnick yesterday saying Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee is annual, five times in a row.
So, either they were lying, or this administration folded in less than 24 hours. https://t.co/nc5yeX9G07 pic.twitter.com/JBINhfMDKe
— (@ImperiumFirst) September 20, 2025
Over the weekend, the White House issued clarifications: the $100,000 fee applies only to new visa petitions, not renewals or existing visa holders. It is a one-time fee, not an ongoing annual charge. And it takes effect for applications starting in 2026, giving some lead time.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X:
To be clear:
1.) This is NOT an annual fee. It’s a one-time fee that applies only to the petition.
2.) Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter.
H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would; whatever ability they have to do that is not impacted by yesterday’s proclamation.
3.) This applies only to new visas, not renewals, and not current visa holders.
It will first apply in the next upcoming lottery cycle.
To be clear:
1.) This is NOT an annual fee. It’s a one-time fee that applies only to the petition.
2.) Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter.
H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the…
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) September 20, 2025
For decades, the H-1B system has been riddled with fraud, lottery manipulation, and corporate favoritism.
According to the press release:
American workers are being replaced with lower-paid foreign labor, creating an economic and national security threat to the nation.
- The share of IT workers with H-1B visas has risen from 32% in FY 2003 to over 65% in recent years.
- Unemployment among recent computer science graduates has reached 6.1% and 7.5% for computer engineering graduates — more than double the rates for biology or art history majors. The number of foreign STEM workers in the United States has more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, while overall STEM employment only increased 44.5% during that time.
- American companies are laying off their American technology workers and seemingly replacing them with H-1B workers:
- One company was approved for 5,189 H-1B workers in FY 2025, while laying off roughly 16,000 U.S. employees this year.
- Another company was approved for 1,698 H-1B workers in FY 2025, yet announced it was laying off 2,400 U.S. workers in Oregon in July.
- A third company has reduced its U.S. workforce by 27,000 since 2022 while receiving 25,075 H-1B approvals.
- Yet another company reportedly cut 1,000 American jobs in February despite receiving 1,137 H-1B approvals for FY 2025.
- American IT workers have even been reportedly forced to train their foreign replacements under nondisclosure agreements.
- The H-1B program is creating disincentives for future American workers to choose STEM careers, which threatens our national security.
- President Trump is imposing higher costs on companies seeking to use the H-1B program in order to address the abuse of the program, stop the undercutting of wages, and protect our national security.
Voters gave President Trump a resounding mandate to put American workers first, and he has worked every day to deliver on that commitment.
- President Trump has aggressively and successfully negotiated new trade deals to bring manufacturing jobs back home and attract new investments to the U.S.
- President Trump is using tariffs as a strategic tool to rebuild American manufacturing, secure our supply chains, and protect U.S. national security.
- President Trump has implemented several Section 232 tariffs to protect manufacturing that has been undermined by unfair trade practices and global excess capacity.
- Since President Trump returned to office, all employment gains have gone to American-born workers—unlike last year during the same period under President Biden, when all employment gains went to foreign-born workers.
- The Trump Administration issued new guidance to ensure illegal aliens are not allowed access to federal workforce development resources and related grants, protecting job trainings for American workers.
The post Companies Now Must Pay $100,000 to Import High-Skilled Foreign Workers Under Trump’s H-1B Overhaul appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.