The Trump administration says the modifications will reshape employment-based immigration and scale back reliance on short-term employee packages.
President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Friday that imposes a $100,000 one-time payment on H-1B visas, altering how overseas staff get employed inside the U.S.
“The entire concept isn’t any extra will these Huge Tech corporations or different massive corporations prepare overseas staff. They need to pay the federal government $100,000, then they need to pay the worker, so it’s simply not [economical],” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick advised reporters on Friday as Trump signed the order.
“All the massive corporations are on board.”
The $100,000 cost — a one-time payment making use of solely to new H-1B petitions — will take impact within the subsequent lottery cycle. It doesn’t apply to renewals or present visa holders, and people already on H-1B visas won’t be required to pay the quantity when re-entering the nation, White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified in an X submit Saturday afternoon.
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“That is NOT an annual payment,” Leavitt mentioned. “H-1B visa holders can depart and reenter the nation to the identical extent as they usually would; no matter potential they’ve to try this isn’t impacted by yesterday’s proclamation.”
Along with the payment, Trump additionally rolled out a “gold card,” which is able to give rich people a pathway to citizenship.
President Donald Trump speaks, with Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick standing by his aspect, as an indication that reads “Trump Gold Card is right here” is displayed, within the Oval Workplace on the White Home in Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2025. (Ken Cedeno/Reuters / Reuters)
People seeking to get a gold card shall be charged $1 million, and companies might want to pay $2 million, in keeping with Axios. The company card will let corporations sponsor an worker. There shall be no further payment if the corporate chooses to modify the sponsorship to a distinct employee.
There may even be a extra premium choice often called the “Trump Platinum Card,” which carries a $5 million price ticket and can let holders spend as much as 270 days within the U.S. with out being topic to taxes on non-U.S. revenue, Axios reported.
H-1B visas have been a significant focus of the immigration debate all through Trump’s second time period. Whereas the visas require candidates to have at the least a bachelor’s diploma, there are some who argue that H-1Bs are sometimes used to rent low cost labor over American staff.
“President Trump promised to place American staff first, and this commonsense motion does simply that by discouraging corporations from spamming the system and driving down wages. It additionally provides certainty to American companies who truly need to carry high-skilled staff to our nice nation however have been trampled on by abuses of the system,” White Home spokesperson Taylor Rogers advised FOX Enterprise.
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President Donald Trump indicators an government order on a “gold card” visa within the Oval Workplace on the White Home in Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2025. (Ken Cedeno/Reuters / Reuters)
The White Home mentioned in a truth sheet that the share of IT staff with H-1B visas rose from 32% in fiscal 2003 to greater than 65% in recent times. In the meantime, the Trump administration mentioned unemployment amongst pc science graduates reached 6.1% and seven.5% for pc engineering graduates.
“The H-1B program is creating disincentives for future American staff to decide on STEM careers, which threatens our nationwide safety,” the White Home mentioned.
JPMorgan workers had been suggested by Ogletree Deakins, an organization that handles visa purposes for the financial institution, that H-1B visa holders ought to keep away from worldwide journey “till the federal government points clear journey steerage,” in keeping with Reuters.
Amazon reportedly posted inner steerage Friday night with the same warning, Enterprise Insider reported.
“When you have H-1B standing and are within the U.S.: Keep within the nation for now, even when you’ve got journey deliberate for the instant future,” the corporate advised workers, in keeping with Enterprise Insider. The steerage additionally suggested H-1B and H-4 holders at the moment exterior the U.S. to return as quickly as doable. H-4 visas are for spouses of H-1B holders.
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India’s know-how service business can also be anticipated to really feel the influence of the coverage shift.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick talks in regards to the “Trump Gold Card” as President Donald Trump seems on throughout an government order signing Friday within the Oval Workplace of the White Home in Washington, D.C. (Fox Information/Pool / Fox Information)
“Expert expertise mobility and exchanges have contributed enormously to know-how improvement, innovation, financial progress, competitiveness and wealth creation in the US and India,” India’s Ministry of Exterior Affairs mentioned in an announcement.
“Policymakers will due to this fact assess current steps bearing in mind mutual advantages, which embrace robust people-to-people ties between the 2 nations.”
Deedy Das, accomplice at enterprise capital agency Menlo Ventures, warned in a submit on X that this “creates disincentive to draw the world’s smartest expertise to the U.S.”
“If the U.S. ceases to draw the very best expertise, it drastically reduces its potential to innovate and develop the financial system,” Das added.
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FOX Enterprise reached out to Amazon and Microsoft for remark however didn’t instantly obtain a response. JPMorgan declined to remark.
