U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday imposing a $100,000 application fee on H-1B visas. The administration says the move is aimed at curbing overuse of the program, reflecting the drastic changes in U.S. immigration policy.
“We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that that’s what’s going to happen,” Trump said from the Oval Office.
From $1,500 to $100,000
Previously, the fee was $1,500, and now it has been increased to $100,000. The order is expected to affect tech companies in the US whose workforce depends on skilled workers from China and mostly India. The H-1B visa provides employment opportunities in the United States to qualified individuals from around the world. The tech company says many companies use H-1B visas to fulfill their but the tech sector is the most commonly associated with H-1Bs. Tech firms argue that this visa allows them to hire talent that they can’t find at home.
Critics of the plan say it is an exploitation of the American workforce, but supporters of the plan, like Elon Musk, say the program makes it possible to bring the best talent from around the world to the United States. Since 2004, the United States has kept the annual H-1B visa issuance at $85,000. The current fee for this visa is $5,500. 65,000 H-1B visas are granted annually, with another 20,000 reserved just for people who hold advanced degrees from U.S. higher education institutions.
Big Tech Among the Biggest Users
According to the government statistics, Amazon was the biggest beneficiary of this program during the last fiscal year, followed by tech companies Tata, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Google. Additional restrictions on the H-1B program are a concern for a country like India, which has so far brought a large number of Indians to the U.S. through the program. The U.S. started the H-1B visa program in 1990. So far, the program has brought the largest number of skilled workers from India to the U.S., followed by China.
H-1B visas by nationality.
This graphic says it all! pic.twitter.com/TixzddpEJ4— Raza Ahmad Rumi (@Razarumi) September 20, 2025
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I repeat, India has a weak PM. https://t.co/N0EuIxQ1XG pic.twitter.com/AEu6QzPfYH
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 20, 2025
Impact on the Indian Diaspora
The move is likely to hit the Indian diaspora in the U.S., who constitute nearly 70% of the H-1B visa holders. The U.S. Commerce Secretary has said that the move would ensure that the U.S. companies hire more American talent while sending less valuable foreign workers back to their home countries.
Trump believes there has been systematic abuse of the H-1B visa system, particularly by IT outsourcing firms. He believes that the misuse of the H-1B program was a national security threat. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in July said that it has received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption known as the Master’s Cap for the Fiscal Year 2026.
Meanwhile, Microsoft, as quoted by Reuters, has issued an email to its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return to the U.S. immediately before the Trump administration’s September 21 deadline, after which the companies would be required to pay $100,000 fee per year for each H-1B worker’s visa. Hence, Microsoft has urged employees to return to the U.S. before the deadline, as well as has instructed all the H-1B visa holders to stay in the U.S. for the foreseeable future.