President Donald Trump has implemented a substantial increase in H-1B visa fees, raising the cost to $100,000 per application through a new proclamation. The policy change targets one of the primary pathways for skilled foreign workers to enter the United States.
Donald Trump imposes 100,000 USD fee in H-1B Visa Application
The H-1B program, established in 1990, allows U.S. companies to hire foreign professionals in specialty occupations requiring bachelor’s degrees or higher, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.
These temporary visas are initially valid for three years and can be extended to six years maximum.
White House staff secretary Will Scharf described the H-1B system as among the “most abused visa” programs in current U.S. immigration policy. “What this proclamation will do is raise the fee that companies pay to sponsor H-1B applicants to $100,000. This will ensure that the people they’re bringing in are actually very highly skilled and that they’re not replaceable by American workers,” Scharf stated.
Here’s what Donald Trump said:
Donald Trump justified the fee increase by emphasizing quality over quantity. “We need workers. We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that that’s what’s going to happen,” he said.
.@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
The policy particularly affects Indian professionals, who comprised 71 percent of approved H-1B beneficiaries last year, according to government data. China ranked second at 11.7 percent. Major technology companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta have historically secured thousands of these visas annually.
About ‘Gold Card Visa Program’
Additionally, the US president signed an executive order creating a “Gold Card” visa program with fees of $1 million for individuals and $2 million for businesses. The program targets what Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called “extraordinary people at the very top” who can generate American jobs.
Lutnick criticized the existing employment-based green card system, noting it admitted individuals earning an average of $66,000 annually who were “five times more likely to go on government assistance programs.” He characterized this as accepting “the bottom quartile, below the average American.”
The administration also plans to reintroduce a more rigorous citizenship test requiring applicants to answer 12 of 20 questions correctly from a pool of 128 covering U.S. history and politics.
