US President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation imposing a steep $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visas, a move that could affect hundreds of thousands of Indian professionals working in the United States as part of his administration's broader crackdown on immigration.
The Trump administration said the $100,000 fee is intended to ensure that visa holders are "actually very highly skilled" and do not replace American workers. If the move survives legal challenges, it will represent a staggering increase from the current $215 fee.
"We need workers. We need workers. We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that that's what's going to happen," Trump said as he signed the proclamation in the Oval Office, in the presence of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Trump insisted tech companies would support the move, while Lutnick said he had spoken to "all big companies," and that they were on board.
"Everyone's going to be happy. And we're going to be able to keep people in our country that are going to be very productive people. And in many cases, these companies are going to pay a lot of money for that, and they're very happy about it," Trump said.
Representatives for Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Microsoft declined to comment.
According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data, Amazon was the top H-1B visa employer with 10,044 workers as of June 2025, followed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) with 5,505 visas approved. Other top beneficiaries included Microsoft (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202), Google (4,181), Deloitte (2,353), Infosys (2,004), Wipro (1,523) and Tech Mahindra Americas (951).
'Just not economic anymore'
Lutnick explained the administration's latest policy was intended to overhaul employment-based immigration.
"Historically, the employment-based Green Card programme let in 281,000 people a year, and those people earned USD 66,000 a year on average, and were five times more likely to participate in assistance programmes of the government," he said.
"So we were taking in the bottom quartile, below the average American. It was illogical, the only country in the world that was taking in the bottom quartile," Lutnick added.
He said the new programme would admit only "extraordinary people at the very top," instead of those "trying to take jobs from Americans."
These individuals, he said, would create businesses and jobs while raising more than USD 100 billion for the US Treasury.
Trump added that the revenue would be used to cut taxes and pay down national debt. "We think it's going to be very successful," he said.
Lutnick said the $100,000 fee will be charged annually, potentially making H-1B visas "just not economic anymore" for companies.
"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," he said.
"So the whole idea is, no more will these big tech companies or other big companies train foreign workers. They have to pay the government USD 100,000, then they have to pay the employee. So it's just not economic," Lutnick continued.
"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. That's the policy here. And all of the big companies are on board. We've spoken to them about it."
When asked if the new fee applies to current visa holders, renewals, or first-time applicants abroad, Lutnick said: "Renewals, first times, the company needs to decide. Is that person valuable enough to have USD 100,000 a year payment to the government, or they should head home and they should go hire an American."
He added: "It can be a total of six years, so USD 100,000 a year. So either the person is very valuable to the company and America, or they're going to depart and the company is going to hire an American. That's the point of immigration – hire Americans and make sure the people coming in are the top, top people. Stop the nonsense of letting people just come into this country on these visas that were given away for free. The president is crystal clear. Valuable people only for America. Stop the nonsense."
Politics of H1-B and its impact on Indian workforce
Trump latest policy is expected to hit Indian professionals hardest, as they make up a large proportion of H-1B visa holders. These visas are valid for three years and can be renewed for another three, with extensions available until Green Card approval if a company sponsors an employee.
However, Indians on work visas often face decades-long waits for Green Cards. The new $100,000 annual fee may force companies to decide whether it is worth paying to retain employees.
H-1B visas require at least a bachelor's degree and are intended for high-skilled jobs that tech companies often struggle to fill. Critics argue the programme has been used to hire overseas workers willing to work for as little as $60,000 a year, well below US tech salaries. Many visas go to entry-level roles rather than senior positions with unique skill requirements. Companies can reduce costs by classifying jobs at lower skill levels, even if the workers hired are highly experienced.
Historically, H-1B visas have been awarded via lottery. In 2024, Amazon was the top recipient with over 10,000 visas, followed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Microsoft, Apple, and Google. California has the highest number of H-1B workers.
Many US firms contract work to consulting companies such as Wipro, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Tata, IBM, and Cognizant, which hire foreign workers—often from India—and then provide them to US employers seeking to save costs.
In 2024, lottery applications fell nearly 40% after measures were introduced to prevent applicants from "gaming the system" by submitting multiple entries. USCIS limited each employee to a single lottery entry, regardless of the number of job offers. Critics welcomed the reform but argued that more changes were needed. The AFL-CIO has called for visas to be awarded to companies paying the highest wages rather than by lottery—a change Trump advocated during his first term.
The proclamation signed by Trump on Friday highlighted the broader impact of foreign STEM labour on the US workforce. Between 2000 and 2019, the number of foreign STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) workers more than doubled from 1.2 million to nearly 2.5 million, while overall STEM employment increased by just 44.5 percent. Among computer and math occupations, the foreign share of the workforce grew from 17.7 percent in 2000 to 26.1 percent in 2019.
The administration cited abuse of the H-1B visa as a key driver of this influx. Information technology firms have "prominently manipulated" the H-1B system, significantly harming American workers in computer-related fields. The share of IT workers in the H-1B programme rose from 32 percent in fiscal year 2003 to an average of over 65 percent in the past five fiscal years. Some of the most prolific H-1B employers are now consistently IT outsourcing companies.
A study cited in the proclamation showed that using H-1B-reliant IT outsourcing firms provides significant savings for employers, with entry-level H-1B positions costing 36 percent less than full-time traditional workers. To exploit these artificially low labour costs, companies often close their IT divisions, lay off American staff, and outsource jobs to lower-paid foreign workers. Data indicated that many American tech companies have simultaneously laid off qualified American employees while hiring thousands of H-1B workers.