White House Targets H-1B Visa Program
The White House is tightening regulations on a popular skilled worker visa, which some officials argue is displacing American workers. President Donald Trump announced on Friday a hefty fee of $100,000 for H-1B visa applicants, as detailed in a White House statement. This new directive will restrict entries under the H-1B program unless this fee is paid.
A spokesperson from the White House explained, “What this declaration does is raise the fees companies pay to sponsor H-1B applicants to $100,000. This ensures that the individuals they bring in are truly highly skilled and not replacing American workers.” They added, “We’re safeguarding American jobs while allowing businesses to bring in remarkable talent to the United States.”
The H-1B program, created by Congress in 1990, has become a primary avenue for skilled foreigners to work in the U.S., with visa holders eligible to later apply for permanent residency and, thus, potentially stay indefinitely in the country. Employers in the United States favor this program, with only 85,000 new visas issued annually through a lottery system. Still, critics, including Trump and his team, claim it allows companies to hire foreign labor at lower wages, undermining American workers.
“When it comes to training, I’d prefer to train recent graduates from our top universities,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick stated at the White House. “The objective is to stop hiring foreign workers to fill our positions.”
Despite significant layoffs from major companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft—firing 27,000, 12,000, and 16,000 employees, respectively—these businesses managed to secure over 61,000 H-1B visas for foreign workers in nearly three years.
Eric Ruark, the director of research for NumbersUSA, expressed concern, saying, “Large tech firms are letting go of workers while claiming there’s a labor shortage. The H-1B program is specifically crafted to let employers replace qualified American employees with cheaper foreign labor.”
