Washington, September 20 (HS): US President Donald Trump on Friday unveiled a sweeping immigration measure imposing an annual $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications, a move that could dramatically reshape the landscape for foreign skilled workers and the American technology sector that relies heavily on them.
The proclamation, signed at the White House, marks the sharpest escalation yet in Trump’s campaign to overhaul the H-1B program, which admits 85,000 high-skilled workers into the US each year. Designed originally to meet labor shortages in STEM fields, the program has long faced criticism for being exploited by consulting firms and outsourcers, particularly those contracting workers from India, often at significantly lower wages than their American counterparts.
Trump defended the measure, claiming the industry would ultimately welcome it. “I think they’re going to be very happy,” he said, insisting the policy would not hurt innovation but rather encourage higher wages and reduce system abuse.
Analysts, however, point to the immense jolt this fee could deliver to both global IT firms and top American tech employers like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Google — the largest H-1B recipients. Amazon alone secured over 10,000 approvals this past year, underscoring the depth of US corporate dependence on the program. California remains home to the biggest concentration of H-1B holders, according to official data.
The overhaul comes amid ongoing concerns that the visa lottery favors entry-level or low-wage classifications, enabling companies to undercut US salaries and outsource critical functions such as programming and customer support. A recent tightening of the lottery process by US Citizenship and Immigration Services had already slashed multiple fraudulent entries, reducing overall applications by about 40% in 2024.
Critics warn that Trump’s latest directive, while addressing wage disparities, risks shutting out genuine high-skilled talent and straining US tech competitiveness at a time of global competition in fields like artificial intelligence and semiconductor design. Labor unions, meanwhile, argue that visas should instead be tied directly to wage levels rather than random draw — a reform Trump has also endorsed in principle.
The H-1B system, created in 1990, has long been emblematic of America’s struggle to balance its need for skilled workers with domestic job protection. Ironically, Trump’s own wife, Melania, once benefited from the visa in the 1990s during her modeling career.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
