Trump Sharply Hikes H1B Visa Fee To $100,000, Says ‘Need Great Workers’

US President Donald Trump has signed a sweeping proclamation imposing a new $100,000 annual fee for H-1B visa applications—a big shift in U.S. skilled worker immigration policy aimed at curbing abuse and prioritising highly skilled professionals over mass recruitment by outsourcing firms.

The new measure requires U.S. companies to pay $100,000 per year to sponsor each H-1B worker, a sharp increase from previous fees that typically ranged from $1,700 to $4,500.

The changes pose substantial new costs for major tech employers such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta etc., which rely heavily on international talent to fill specialised roles.

Last year, Indian citizens accounted for 71% of all H-1B approvals as per official data, meaning the visa hike will especially affect Indian technology workers and their sponsoring U.S. companies. Currently, the visas are valid for three years and can be renewed for another three years.

White House staff secretary Will Scharf said the H1B non-immigrant visa programme is one of the “most abused visa” systems in the country’s current immigration system, and it is supposed to allow highly skilled labourers, who work in fields that Americans don't work in, to come into the United States.

The Trump administration said that the $100,000 fee is aimed at ensuring that the people being brought into the country are “actually very highly skilled” and do not replace American workers.

“We need workers. We need workers. We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that that's what's going to happen,” Trump said, as he signed the proclamation in the Oval Office in the presence of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

On whether the technology CEOs, who hire foreign workers on H1-B visas, are concerned about the new move, Trump said they're going to be very happy.

“Everyone's going to be happy. And we're going to be able to keep people in our country that are going to be very productive people. And in many cases, these companies are going to pay a lot of money for that, and they're very happy about it,” he said.

When asked if the new $100,000 fee will apply to the H1-B visa holders already in the country, to renewals or to those applying for the first time from abroad, Lutnick said, “Renewals, first times, the company needs to decide. Is that person valuable enough to have $100,000 a year payment to the government, or they should head home and they should go hire an American."

“That’s the point of immigration - hire Americans and make sure the people coming in are the top, top people. Stop the nonsense of letting people just come into this country on these visas that were given away for free. The president is crystal clear. Valuable people only for America. Stop the nonsense,” Lutnick said.

With text inputs from PTI