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Do H-1B visa holders have to pay $100K per year? What Trump's order says
President Donald Trump, on Friday, signed an executive order revising the fees for H-1B applicants, requiring $100,000 be submitted with visa petitions.
The H-1B visa fee system saw a major overhaul on Friday with President Donald Trump signing an executive order in an attempt to stop the ‘abuse' of the program. Visa petitions must now be accompanied by a payment of $100,000.
The proclamation the President signed, stated “The large-scale replacement of American workers through systemic abuse of the [H-1B] program has undermined both our economic and national security.”
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While the order mentions several key changes, it has raised questions among new applicants and existing H-1B visa holders alike. One of them is whether H-1B holders have to pay $100,000 annually. Here's what you need to know.
Do H-1B visa holders have to pay $100K annually?
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick while answering questions did say that this $100,000 fee would have to be paid annually.
In fact, he reiterated it while explaining that this would stop tech companies from ‘training’ foreign workers and ‘bringing them in’ to ‘take [American] jobs'.
However, the executive order, itself, does not explicitly mention that the $100,000 is an annual fee. It states that “This restriction shall expire, absent extension, 12 months after the effective date of this proclamation.”
The proclamation further adds that a recommendation shall be submitted to the President ‘no later than 30 days following the completion of the H-1B lottery that immediately follows this proclamation’ on whether an ‘extension or renewal of the restriction on entry' is in the best interests of the country.
Moreover, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has clarified that the $100,000 fee is not annual and has to be paid only one time when the petition is being made.
Section 1, which details the restriction of entry states “the entry into the United States of aliens as nonimmigrants to perform services in a specialty occupation under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b), is restricted, except for those aliens whose petitions are accompanied or supplemented by a payment of $100,000 — subject to the exceptions set forth in subsection (c) of this section.”
“This restriction shall expire, absent extension, 12 months after the effective date of this proclamation, which shall be 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on September 21, 2025,” it further adds.
India reacts to Trump's H-1B fee change
Indians make up the largest portion of H-1B visa holders, and the move has elicited a response from the Indian government.
“The government has seen reports related to the proposed restrictions on the US H1B visa program. The full implications of the measure are being studied by all concerned, including by Indian industry, which has already put out an initial analysis clarifying some perceptions related to the H1B program,” a statement from the ministry of external affairs said.
