 "Tech workers gather outside the Amazon Spheres during a Climate Strike walkout and march in Seattle, Washington, US. September 20, 2019. File Photo/Reuters")
United States President Donald Trump’s latest immigration reform has come to sting H-1B visa aspirants. On Friday (September 19), he signed an executive order to impose a $100,000 (Rs 88,09,180) application fee for H-1B worker visas.
The move is expected to affect Indians, who are the largest beneficiaries of the temporary employment visas. Trump’s decision could also potentially hurt the tech sector in the US, which heavily relies on skilled workers from India and China.
Let’s take a closer look.
Trump imposes $100,000 fee on H-1B visas
US President Trump signed a proclamation that would require companies to pay $100,000 per year for H-1B worker visas. With this, the visa fee for skilled workers would rise from $215 (Rs 18,940).
“We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that that’s what’s going to happen,” Trump said from the Oval Office. He insisted that the tech industry would be in favour of the move.
The H-1B visa programme allows US employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in speciality fields. The non-immigrant visa is typically valid for up to three years and can be renewed for another three years. However, it can be extended if the American employer sponsors the worker for a green card or permanent residency, which allows foreigners to live and work in the US.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsUS Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said “all big companies” are on board with the change in the H1-B visa programme. “We’ve spoken to them,” he said.
“If you’re going to train somebody, you’re going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs,” Lutnick was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Critics claim that the H-1B visa programme allows companies to replace American workers and undercut wages by hiring foreigners at cheaper salaries. Supporters of H-1B visas argue that it helps US companies plug the talent gap by hiring highly skilled foreign workers and maintain competitiveness.
According to the executive order signed by Trump, some companies have suppressed wages, disadvantaging American workers.
White House staff secretary Will Scharf said the H-1b visa programme is one of the “most abused visa” systems. “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,” he said.
How Indians, US companies will be impacted
The Trump administration’s move is likely to hurt Indians and the tech sector in the US.
Most H-1B visa holders are from India, followed by China. In 2024, Indians accounted for 71 per cent of approved beneficiaries, while China stood at 11.7 per cent, according to government data.
The hike in visa fees could impact recent graduates or early-career professionals, as companies in the US may avoid hiring them.
Most Indians employed in the US work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. As per a 2023 BBC report, about 65 per cent of Indian H-1B visa holders were employed in computer-related roles.
The median salary for H-1B holders is reportedly around $118,000 (Rs 1.04 crore) per year.
But it is not just Indians who will bear the brunt. The US companies that are dependent on H1-B visa workers are also likely to feel the heat.
Adding new fees “creates disincentive to attract the world’s smartest talent to the US,” Deedy Das, partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, wrote on X. “If the US ceases to attract the best talent, it drastically reduces its ability to innovate and grow the economy.”
US Commerce Secretary Lutnick said the reform is expected to lead to far fewer H-1B visas than the 85,000 annual cap allows because “it’s just not economic anymore.”
Currently, the H-1B visas for high-skilled foreign workers are capped at 85,000 per year, including a 20,000 exemption for individuals with an advanced degree from a US university.
Amazon has topped the list of American employers with the largest number of H-1B workers since 2020, as per the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.
In the first half of this year, Amazon and its cloud-computing unit, AWS, got approval for over 12,000 H-1B visas, while Microsoft and Meta Platforms had more than 5,000 H-1B visa approvals each, reported Reuters.
The Trump administration’s step could increase millions of dollars in costs for companies, with smaller tech firms and start-ups being hit the most.
It is not fully known how the new fees will be administered. Lutnick said the visa would cost $100,000 a year for each of the three years but that the details were “still being considered.”
Former CEO of the NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant also weighed in on the recent change.
“Donald Trump’s 100,000 H-1B fee will choke US innovation, and turbocharge India’s. By slamming the door on global talent, America pushes the next wave of labs, patents, innovation and startups to Bangalore and Hyderabad, Pune and Gurgaon . India’s finest Doctors, engineers, scientists, innovators have an opportunity to contribute to India’s growth & progress towards Viksit Bharat. America’s loss will be India’s gain,” he wrote on X.
Legal challenges may hit H1-B visa reform
Trump’s H1-B visa reform could face legal hurdles. The US president has been accused of widening his powers while sidestepping Congress.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director of the American Immigration Council, raised questions about the legality of the new fees. “Congress has only authorised the government to set fees to recover the cost of adjudicating an application,” he posted on Bluesky.
Doug Rand, a senior official at US Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration, described the proposed fee increase was “ludicrously lawless.”
“This isn’t real policy - it’s fan service for immigration restrictionists. Trump gets his headlines, and inflicts a jolt of panic, and doesn’t care whether this survives first contact with the courts,” Rand was quoted as saying by Associated Press (AP).
Trump’s reform is the latest step as he cracks down on immigration and limits the types of foreigners allowed in the US.
Trump’s ‘gold card’ rollout
In another order, Trump launched a “gold card” visa as a pathway to US citizenship for wealthy individuals.
He said the US will sell a “gold card” visa for $1 million (Rs 8.8 crore) to foreigners, expediting a path to American citizenship after vetting. Companies will have to pay $2 million to sponsor an employee.
The “Trump Platinum Card” will be sold for $5 million. Foreigners will be able to spend up to 270 days in the US without paying taxes in America on non-US income.
In the Oval Office on Friday, Lutnick criticised the existing green card process for immigrants, saying it resulted in the US accepting the “bottom quartile” of workers from abroad.
“We’re going to only take extraordinary people at the very top,” he said of the gold card programme.
The US Commerce Secretary said the gold and platinum cards would replace employment-based visas that offer paths to citizenship, including for professors, scientists, artists and athletes.
With inputs from agencies