SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON. The Trump administration announced Friday that companies will soon be required to pay $100,000 per year for each H-1B worker visa, a move expected to significantly impact the U.S. technology sector, which depends heavily on skilled workers from India and China.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defended the measure, saying, “If you’re going to train somebody, you’re going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs.”
The decision is part of President Donald Trump’s broader immigration crackdown, which has included restrictions on both legal and illegal migration. It also represents his administration’s most high-profile attempt to reshape the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. employers to hire foreign professionals in specialized fields.
Critics argue the program suppresses wages and sidelines American workers, while supporters say it fills critical talent gaps and sustains U.S. competitiveness. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who once held an H-1B visa, has described it as essential for innovation.
The administration’s order also pointed to concerns about wage suppression, noting that the number of foreign STEM workers in the U.S. more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, while overall STEM employment grew 44.5% in the same period.
Some industry leaders warned the new costs could discourage global talent from coming to the U.S. “If the U.S. ceases to attract the best talent, it drastically reduces its ability to innovate and grow the economy,” said Deedy Das, partner at Menlo Ventures.
Analysts also cautioned that smaller firms and startups could be hit hardest, with some companies possibly moving high-value work overseas. “In the short term, Washington may collect a windfall; in the long term, the U.S. risks taxing away its innovation edge, trading dynamism for short-sighted protectionism,” said Jeremy Goldman of eMarketer.
India accounted for 71% of approved H-1B beneficiaries last year, with China in second place at 11.7%, according to government data. Major tech firms remain among the largest users of the program: Amazon and its cloud unit AWS secured more than 12,000 approvals in the first half of 2025, while Microsoft and Meta each had more than 5,000.
Despite the heavy reliance of U.S. corporations on H-1B visas, Lutnick claimed that “all the big companies are on board” with the new fee. “We’ve spoken to them,” he said. Many firms, however, declined to comment.
The announcement rattled markets, with shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions falling nearly 5% and U.S.-listed shares of Indian IT firms Infosys and Wipro dropping between 2% and 5%.
Some legal experts questioned whether the administration has the authority to impose such fees. “Congress has only authorized the government to set fees to recover the cost of adjudicating an application,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director of the American Immigration Council.
Currently, 65,000 H-1B visas are issued annually, with an additional 20,000 reserved for workers with advanced degrees. Employers now pay several thousand dollars in processing fees for a visa that can last three to six years.
Alongside the fee increase, Trump also signed an executive order introducing a so-called “gold card,” which would grant permanent residency to individuals willing to pay $1 million.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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