Trump to impose $100k annual fee for skilled visas
The Trump administration receives a major blow to the technology sector, which will ask companies to pay $ 100,000 (A152,000) per year for H-1B workers’ visas and potentially based on talented workers from India and China.
Since he took office in January, Trump has launched a comprehensive migration pressure, including movements to limit some legal migration types.
The Movement to reshape the H-1B visa program represents the highest profile effort of the management to re-process temporary employment visas.
US Trade Secretary Howard Lotnick said on Friday, “H1-B visas a hundred thousand dollars per year and all big companies on board. We talked to them.” He said.
“If you are going to educate someone, you will train one of the new graduates from one of the major universities in our country. You will educate Americans. Stop bringing people to take our business.” He said.
Trump’s threat of disrupting H1-B visas has become an important glare point with the technology industry, which contributed millions of dollars to the presidential campaign.
Many US technology employees, including critics, argue that companies allow companies to suppress side -Americans who can do fees and jobs.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, including supporters, says that it brings very talented workers to fill talent gaps and keep companies competitive.
Musk, a US citizen in South Africa, made a H-1B visa.
Adding new fees, “the world creates a deterrent to attract the smartest talent to the United States,” he said.
“If the US stops with the best ability, it will greatly reduce the ability to innovate and grow the economy.”
The new fee can significantly increase costs for companies, especially for smaller technology companies and beginners.
Approximately two-thirds of the jobs provided through the H1-B program are related to the computer, but employers use visa to bring visa engineers, educators and health workers.
According to government data, India was the biggest beneficiary of H-1B visas in 2024, which made up 71 percent of approved beneficiaries.
In the first half of 2025, Amazon.com approved more than 10,000 H-1B visa, and Microsoft and Meta platforms had a 5000 H-1B visa approval.
