U.S. President Donald Trump said abuse of the H-1B programme is a national security threat as he signed a proclamation restricting entry of certain non-immigrant workers and imposing a staggering annual $1,00,000 fee on the visas used by companies to hire workers, including from India, to live and work in the U.S.
Mr. Trump on Friday (September 19, 2025) signed the proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain non-immigrant workers’ that restricts the entry into the U.S. of those workers whose H-1B petitions are not accompanied or supplemented by a payment of $1,00,000.
“The H-1B non-immigrant visa programme was created to bring temporary workers into the United States to perform additive, high-skilled functions, but it has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labour,” Mr. Trump said in the proclamation.
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“The abuse of the H-1B programme is also a national security threat. Domestic law enforcement agencies have identified and investigated H-1B-reliant outsourcing companies for engaging in visa fraud, conspiracy to launder money... and other illicit activities to encourage foreign workers to come to the United States,” he said in the proclamation.
