U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he sits subsequent to a “Trump Gold Card” signal, within the Oval Workplace on the White Home in Washington, D.C., U.S., Sept. 19, 2025.
Ken Cedeno | Reuters
Main expertise corporations and overseas governments are speeding to reply after President Donald Trump late Friday introduced plans to impose a $100,000 charge on H-1B visas, threatening to upend this system that underpins America’s expertise workforce.
The charge would apply to new H-1B candidates, not renewals or present visa holders, based on a White Home official. It would first apply within the upcoming lottery cycle, and it doesn’t apply to 2025 lottery winners, the particular person stated. The White Home additionally clarified that the brand new $100,000 charge isn’t an annual cost, as beforehand reported by a number of media shops.
The transfer may deal a large blow to corporations — primarily within the expertise and finance sectors — that rely closely on extremely expert immigrants, notably from India and China.
The announcement despatched shockwaves by means of a number of the nation’s largest tech and finance corporations:
- Amazon’s immigration crew suggested its H-1B and H-4 visa holders to stay within the U.S. and for these abroad to return earlier than 12:01 a.m. ET on Sept. 21, based on inside messages considered by CNBC.
- JPMorgan Chase’s legislation agency despatched a memo asking H-1B visa holders on the agency to stay within the U.S. and keep away from worldwide journey till additional steering, based on an individual conversant in the matter.
- Goldman Sachs informed staff holding H-1B visas to train warning when touring internationally primarily based on steering from immigration companies agency Fragomen, based on an inside memo seen by Reuters.
- Microsoft additionally has reportedly suggested H-1B visa holders to stay within the U.S. and for these abroad to return, warning that worldwide journey may jeopardize their immigration standing, based on emails seen by Reuters.
The charge represents the administration’s most aggressive transfer but to limit authorized immigration. Since taking workplace in January, Trump has superior a broad crackdown on each unlawful and authorized entry into the U.S., however Friday’s announcement marks probably the most vital try and clamp down on employment visas.
Amazon employed probably the most H-1B holders — greater than 14,000 as of the top of June. Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google had over 4,000 such visas every, among the many prime 10 recipients for the fiscal 12 months 2025.
CNBC has reached out to the entire public corporations on the highest 10 H-1B recipient checklist for remark. The White Home did not instantly reply to an electronic mail asking for remark.
“President Trump promised to place American employees first, and this commonsense motion does simply that by discouraging corporations from spamming the system and driving down wages,” Taylor Rogers, a White Home spokeswoman, informed CNBC. “It additionally offers certainty to American companies who really need to carry high-skilled employees to our nice nation however have been trampled on by abuses of the system.”
‘Humanitarian penalties’
The announcement additionally disrupted the established order abroad, the place overseas governments scrambled to evaluate the impression of the brand new guidelines on their international locations.
India’s Ministry of Exterior Affairs stated it’s learning the visa restrictions and their implications, stressing that each Indian and U.S. industries share an curiosity in sustaining competitiveness in innovation. It additionally highlighted the seemingly disruption to particular person households.
“This measure is more likely to have humanitarian penalties by the use of the disruption triggered for households. Authorities hopes that these disruptions will be addressed suitably by the US authorities,” India’s Ministry of Exterior Affairs stated in an announcement.
South Korea’s overseas ministry additionally stated it’s assessing the implications for Korean corporations and expert employees.
Beneath is a searchable checklist of the highest 100 U.S. corporations which have been H1-B recipients in fiscal 12 months 2025.
— CNBC’s Annie Palmer contributed to this report.
