The special visa now facing a $100,000 fee by President Donald Trump has long been favored by Silicon Valley to attract tech workers.
On Sept. 19, Trump declared that the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program has been “deliberately exploited” to replace American workers with lower paid and less-skilled labor. To address this, Trump said he’s introducing a $100,000 application fee for companies applying for a H-1B visa, with discretion from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to exempt workers. Research shows visa workers complement American workers due to different skillsets.
While Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said all of the “big companies are on board,” H-1Bs are vital to the nation’s tech industry, and Trump's fee will likely face legal challenges. Here’s what to know about the H-1B visa.
The visa category lets employers seek workers who are highly educated − at least a bachelor’s degree − to perform in “specialty occupations,” according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Before employers can file their USCIS petition, they have to show foreign workers don’t harm American workers, the American Immigration Council, a pro-immigration advocacy group, said in a 2024 fact sheet. This includes employers attesting, via the Department of Labor, that a prospective H-1B worker won’t affect wages and labor conditions of similar American workers, USCIS said. Existing workers also have to be notified of a company’s plan to hire a visa worker.
