A day after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order increasing fees for the H-1B visa program, the White House issued a clarification on Saturday.
A White House official told IANS that this is a one-time fee applicable only to new applicants. Renewal or existing visa holders are not required to pay this fee. It will be implemented for the first time in the next upcoming lottery cycle.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also clarified that those who applied for H-1B visas before September 21 are not required to pay the $100,000 fee.
A White House spokesperson also clarified to IANS that this policy will discourage companies from spamming the system. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers stated that President Trump had promised to prioritize American workers.
This practical step does exactly that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and undercutting wages. It also provides certainty to American businesses that genuinely want to bring high-skilled workers into our country but have been squeezed out due to system abuse.
While signing the executive order at the White House on Friday, Trump said the incentive is to hire American workers. Trump further stated that we need workers. We need good workers and this largely confirms it.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also defended Trump's decision, stating that the policy will discourage companies from hiring foreign workers.
He explained that the whole idea is that now these big tech companies or other big companies won't train foreign workers. They will have to pay the government $100,000, then they have to pay the employee. So, it's not economically viable.
You're going to train somebody. You're going to train somebody who recently graduated from a university in our country, train Americans. Stop bringing people in to take our jobs. That's the policy here, $100,000 a year for the H-1B visa.”
According to Pew Research data, workers born in India received approximately 73 percent of the total H-1B visas approved in 2023, followed by China at 12 percent, primarily due to significant delays in approvals and a higher number of skilled migrants from India.
