NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump on Friday signed a sweeping proclamation that will impose a $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visas and simultaneously rolled out a $1 million “gold card” visa as a pathway to US citizenship for wealthy individuals, moves that face near-certain legal challenges amid widespread criticism that he is sidestepping Congress.
The policy marks a significant escalation in Trump’s anti-immigration agenda and signals a clear shift away from the US as a top destination for global talent, especially from India, whose engineers, coders and consultants have long been integral to the success of America’s technology economy.
Experts have warned that the move could drive skilled labour elsewhere just as global competition for tech talent intensifies.
“We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that that’s what’s going to happen,” Trump said from the Oval Office as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stood by. If implemented, the new rule would raise the cost of sponsoring an Indian H-1B worker from the current $215 to a staggering $100,000 per year or up to $600,000 over a six-year visa period.
Lutnick confirmed it would apply to both new and renewal applications. “If a company thinks that person is worth $600,000 over six years, great. If not, the person goes home, and the job goes to an American,” he said.
The Trump administration says that the fee is designed to ensure that only “extraordinary” workers are brought in and that American jobs are not lost to cheaper foreign labour.
But the fallout will be particularly severe for Indian professionals, who have long dominated the H-1B visa category. Of the 399,395 H-1B visas approved in 2024, 71% were granted to Indian nationals, which is more than the rest of the top ten countries combined. By contrast, China accounted for just 11.7%, as per the US data.
India’s IT and technology services industry, which relies heavily on the programme to place skilled engineers and consultants in the US, is likely to be the hardest hit.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra, along with US-based behemoths such as Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Google, sponsor thousands of Indian workers annually under H-1B. Amazon alone had over 10,000 visa holders on its payroll as of June 2025.
US Commerce Secretary Lutnick did not mince words about the administration’s intent. “Historically, the US was letting in the bottom quartile, people earning $66,000 a year, often needing government assistance.
It was illogical. We were the only country doing that,” he said. “This programme will now only admit people at the very top. If someone is that valuable, companies can pay $100,000 a year. If not, they can hire an American.”
H-1B visas, which require at least a bachelor’s degree, are meant for high-skilled jobs that technology companies find difficult to fill. Critics say the programme is a pipeline for overseas workers who are often willing to work for as little as $60,000 annually, well below the $100,000-plus salaries typically paid to US technology workers.
Lutnick said the change will likely result in far fewer H-1B visas than the 85,000 annual cap allows because “it’s just not economic anymore.” He added on a conference call with reporters, “If you’re going to train people, you’re going to train Americans. If you have a very sophisticated engineer and you want to bring them in ... then you can pay $100,000 a year for your H-1B visa.”
Trump also unveiled a new “Gold Card” immigration fast-track, allowing individuals to pay $1 million to expedite their own visa process or $2 million for companies to sponsor foreign talent. For companies, it will cost $2 million to sponsor an employee.
Despite claims that “all the big companies are on board,” technology giants have been tight-lipped. Representatives for Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta did not immediately respond to messages for comment on Friday.
Microsoft declined to comment. Lutnick said the gold and platinum cards would replace employment-based visas that offer paths to citizenship, including for professors, scientists, artists and athletes.
The “Trump Platinum Card” will be available for $5 million and will allow foreigners to spend up to 270 days in the US without being subject to US taxes on non-US income.
Trump had earlier announced a $5 million gold card in February to replace an existing investor visa, this is now the platinum card. Lutnick said the H-1B fees and gold card could be introduced by the president but the platinum card needs congressional approval.
Critics of H-1B visas who say they are used to replace American workers applauded the move. US Tech Workers, an advocacy group, called it “the next best thing” to abolishing the visas altogether.
Doug Rand, a senior official at US Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration, said the proposed fee increase was “ludicrously lawless.”
“This isn’t real policy — it’s fan service for immigration restrictionists,” Rand said. “Trump gets his headlines, and inflicts a jolt of panic, and doesn’t care whether this survives first contact with the courts.”
Historically, H-1B visas have been doled out through lottery. This year, Amazon was by far the top recipient of H-1B visas with more than 10,000 awarded, followed by Tata Consultancy, Microsoft, Apple and Google. Geographically, California has the highest number of H-1B workers. Critics say H-1B spots often go to entry-level jobs, rather than senior positions with unique skill requirements.
And while the programme is not supposed to undercut US wages or displace US workers, critics say companies can pay less by classifying jobs at the lowest skill levels, even if the specific workers hired have more experience.
As a result, many US companies find it cheaper to contract out help desks, programming and other basic tasks to consulting companies such as Wipro, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Tata in India and IBM and Cognizant in the US.
These consulting companies hire foreign workers, often from India, and contract them out to US employers looking to save money. First Lady Melania Trump, the former Melania Knauss, was granted an H-1B work visa in October 1996 to work as a model. She was born in Slovenia.
In 2024, lottery bids for the visas plunged nearly 40%, which authorities said was due to success against people who were “gaming the system” by submitting multiple, sometimes dubious, applications to unfairly increase chances of being selected.
Major technology companies that use H-1B visas sought changes after massive increases in bids left their employees and prospective hires with slimmer chances of winning the random lottery.
Facing what it acknowledged was likely fraud and abuse, US Citizenship and Immigration Services this year said each employee had only one shot at the lottery, whether the person had one job offer or 50.
Critics welcomed the change but said more needs to be done. The AFL-CIO wrote last year that while changes to the lottery “included some steps in the right direction,” it fell short of needed reforms.
The labour group wants visas awarded to companies that pay the highest wages instead of by random lottery, a change that Trump sought during his first term in the White House.
(With inputs from AP)