Thread: Who’s Up For $100K A Year H1-B Visas

Who’s Up For $100K A Year H1-B Visas

By William Teach September 20, 2025 – 6:45 am

Good idea? Bad idea? Good for some bad for others?

Trump imposes $100K fee on H-1B visas in new immigration action
President Donald Trump signed an executive action on Friday to impose a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas — in an effort to curb what his administration says is overuse of the program.
“We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that that’s what’s going to happen,” Trump said from the Oval Office, where officials detailed how the measure would incentivize companies to employ American workers while still providing a pathway to hire highly skilled foreign workers in specialized fields.
The proclamation will restrict entry under the program unless accompanied by the payment.

Now, this is not something that the visa holders pay, companies pay. There is also some confusion as to whether this is per employee or for a multitude. What it is meant to do is have American companies hire Americans, rather than bring them in. The question now is “does the Executive Branch have this authority?” Quite frankly, I’d rather see a lower fee, like, say, $20K per visa holder, and restrict the visas to 3 years with no renewals. Because now they get renewed over and over again, and the holders bring their families, their parents, their cousins.

The moves mark the latest in a series of efforts from the administration to crack down on immigration and place sharp new limits on the types of foreigners allowed into the country. They threaten to significantly impact industries that depend heavily on H-1B workers.

Maybe they should be focusing on hiring Americans.
Meanwhile

More than 400 arrests made so far in Chicago area enforcement operation, top ICE official says
Immigration enforcement officials have arrested more than 400 people as part of an operation in the Chicago area that launched a little less than two weeks ago, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Friday.
Marcos Charles, the acting head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, gave the figures during an interview with The Associated Press. The figure, which has not been widely reported, offers an early gauge of what is shaping up as a major enforcement effort that comes after similar operations were launched in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

For all the caterwauling, protesting, agitating, none of it mattered in Sanctuary City Chicago. ICE knows who they are and where they are.

Who’s Up For $100K A Year H1-B Visas » Pirate's Cove

Trump imposes $100K fee on H-1B visas in new immigration action

ByAlejandra Jaramillo
,Adam Cancryn

Updated 16 hr ago



President Donald Trump talks at a press conference alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, not pictured, at Chequers in Aylesbury, England, on September 18, 2025.
Leon Neal/Getty Images/File

President Donald Trump signed an executive action on Friday to impose a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas — in an effort to curb what his administration says is overuse of the program.
“We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that that’s what’s going to happen,” Trump said from the Oval Office, where officials detailed how the measure would incentivize companies to employ American workers while still providing a pathway to hire highly skilled foreign workers in specialized fields.
The proclamation will restrict entry under the program unless accompanied by the payment.
In a separate order, Trump also directed the creation of a “gold card” immigration pathway that he said would fast-track visas for certain immigrants in exchange for a hefty fee. The policy will expedite visas for foreigners who pay the US $1 million, while allowing a company to pay $2 million to speed up the process for a foreign worker that it sponsors.

The moves mark the latest in a series of efforts from the administration to crack down on immigration and place sharp new limits on the types of foreigners allowed into the country. They threaten to significantly impact industries that depend heavily on H-1B workers.
The H-1B visa is a work visa that’s valid for three years and can be renewed for another three years. Economists have argued the program allows US companies to maintain competitiveness and grow their business, creating more jobs in the US.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters on a call Friday evening that the administration came to the fee of $100,000 per year, plus vetting costs, after talking with companies.
He noted that the payment structure is still under discussion with the Department of Homeland Security, in terms of “whether we’re going to charge the $300,000 up front or $100,000 a year for the three years.”

Trump’s stance on the H-1B visa program has fluctuated, and the issue has sharply divided his supporters at times.
The president restricted access to foreign worker visas during his first term and has targeted the H-1B program in past remarks – but during the 2024 campaign, he signaled openness to giving some foreign-born workers legal status if they graduated from a US university.
Trump also defended the program last December, telling the New York Post that he’s “a believer in H-1B.”

“I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” Trump told the news outlet at the time.

Trump’s remarks came after entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, whom Trump initially tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, defended the program, igniting sharp criticism from MAGA loyalists hoping to restrict immigration.
65,000 H-1B visas are granted annually, with another 20,000 reserved just for people who hold advanced degrees from US higher education institutions. Demand for the visa often exceeds the supply, triggering a lottery system.
Many companies use H-1B visas to help fill their workforces. But tech is the sector most commonly associated with H-1Bs. Tech firms big and small say they need the H-1B program to hire trained talent that they can’t find at home.
Trump has previously opposed the H-1B visa program as part of his platform to encourage US companies to prioritize American labor over hiring foreign workers. During his 2016 campaign, Trump accused US companies of using H-1B visas “for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay.”

In 2020, Trump restricted access to H-1B visas on several occasions, part of his administration’s effort to curb legal immigration while responding to the changing economic conditions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The so-called gold card program that Trump also unveiled is also designed to overhaul the nation’s posture toward foreign workers, aiming to tip the balance of immigrants toward entrepreneurs and high earners.
A brainchild of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the program will speed entry for foreigners who can afford the $1 million fee — or get their employer to pay twice as much to sponsor them. In the Oval Office on Friday, Lutnick criticized the existing green card process for immigrants seeking to live and work permanently in the US, arguing it resulted in the country taking in the “bottom quartile” of workers from abroad.
“We’re going to only take extraordinary people at the very top,” Lutnick said of the gold card program.
This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.

Trump imposes $100K fee on H-1B visas in new immigration action | CNN Politics

the individual that wants to work in America on a H1-B Visa will not have to pay the $100,000 application fee

the company that wants to bypass American workers and hire from another country will have to pay the full cost of the Visa application