By OpIndia Staff

Copyright opindia

In a sweeping move, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation late Friday imposing a staggering additional $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications. The new fee is effective immediately for new filings and will be effective from 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on September 21, 2025 for renewals.

White House said that the visa fee has been hiked as a “crackdown on systemic abuse” of the H1B vista system. It stated that “the key facilitator for this influx of foreign STEM labor has been the abuse of the H-1B visa.” The presidential order further claims that American companies are laying off American workers to hire aliens on H1B visa on lower salaries.

The Executive Order by President Trump claims that “Information technology (IT) firms in particular have prominently manipulated the H-1B system, significantly harming American workers in computer-related fields.”

The H1B is already an expensive visa, costing around $1,700 to $4,500, depending on whether the visa is expedited. Now an amount of $100,000, around ₹88 lakh, will be added to this fee. The H1B fee is paid by employers, who consider this as a business expense. The Executive Order states a new or renewal application for H1B visa must be accompanied by the additional $100,000 fee, without which the application will be rejected. The additional fee is effective for 12 months, unless extended later.

The EO states, “Employers shall, prior to filing an H-1B petition on behalf of an alien outside the United States, obtain and retain documentation showing that the payment described in section 1 of this proclamation has been made.”

The hiked fee makes it almost impossible for companies to hire foreign skilled workers under this visa, it is higher than the average salary of an H1B visa holder. Only few top companies may be willing to pay this astronomical amount, that too for their most valuable foreign employees. Mid-level companies will stop hiring foreigners altogether, and big companies may hire only a handful of foreigners.

Notably, while the presidential proclamation said that $100,000 must be paid at the time of new or renewal visa application, implying it to be an annual fee, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that it is an annual fee. Therefore, if a company retains a foreign employee for 6 year, the maximum validity of H1B visa, the company will have to pay a staggering $600,000 fee.

“Stop this nonsense of letting people come to America on visas for free. Only valuable people are welcome,” says US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hiking H1B visa fee pic.twitter.com/SwGh3D9sih— Shashank Mattoo (@MattooShashank) September 19, 2025

India set to hit most hard by this move, as around 70% of H1B visa holders are Indians, with approximately 300,000 of its citizens currently working in the U.S. on H-1B visas—predominantly in IT, engineering, and healthcare fields. Indian firms like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and HCL Technologies, which sponsor a significant portion of these visas, could face billions in added costs, potentially jeopardizing thousands of offshore jobs.

Similarly, global tech giants like Google, Amazon, Meta, IBM, Microsoft, Apple etc are also set to hit hard, as they have relied on the visa program to hire skilled employees from India and other countries.

“Trump’s $100K H-1B visa fee hits Indian IT firms hard: 13,000+ jobs at risk, soaring costs for TCS, Infosys, Wipro. US talent crunch forces major shift in India’s global tech strategy,” said investor Pariman Ade in a widely shared 𝕏 post that garnered hundreds of engagements.

Trump’s $100K H-1B visa fee hits Indian IT firms hard: 13,000+ jobs at risk, soaring costs for TCS, Infosys, Wipro. US talent crunch forces major shift in India’s global tech strategy. #H1B #IndianIT #USVisa— Parimal Ade (@AdeParimal) September 20, 2025

It is expected that a large number H1B visas will not be renewed by the companies after their expiry, and the affected people will return to their countries. As a result, remittances from Indian H-1B workers, which topped $37 billion last year, can come down drastically within months.

The new rule is exempt for all foreign employees working in a company or in an industry considered to be of national interest by the administration. The text of the EO says, “The restriction imposed pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall not apply to any individual alien, all aliens working for a company, or all aliens working in an industry, if the Secretary of Homeland Security determines, in the Secretary’s discretion, that the hiring of such aliens to be employed as H-1B specialty occupation workers is in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States.”

However, it does not elaborate on this, which may be clarified separately. However, it is expected that healthcare, critical infrastructure, defence etc could be among the exempted industries.

Visa holders outside USA asked to return within 24 hours

While existing H1B holders are not impacted by the fee hike, the situation is different from those who are currently outside USA. As the Presidential Proclamation is structured as a travel restriction, it has been interpreted by companies to mean that it also applies on H1B visa holders currently not in the USA.

The order states, “The Secretary of Homeland Security shall restrict decisions on petitions not accompanied by a $100,000 payment for H-1B specialty occupation workers under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the INA, who are currently outside the United States, for 12 months following the effective date of this proclamation as set forth in subsection (a) of this section.”

As per the order, beginning at 12:01 am eastern time on September 21, 2025, individuals will not be able to enter/return to the U.S. in H1B status unless their petition is accompanied by an additional $100,000 payment. Therefore, major companies have asked their employees to return before the deadline expires, which means within 24 hours, which may not be possible for many.

The timing of the proclamation, mere hours before the weekend, has triggered a frantic scramble among affected employees and employers. Several companies including Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Apple, TCS and others have sent messages to its global workforce explicitly urging all H-1B visa holders currently outside the U.S. to “promptly return before the September 21 deadline” to secure stamping and avoid renewal complications.

Moreover, they have asked the foreign employees to not leave USA, to avoid complications in return. “Do not leave the U.S. for the foreseeable future,” one Amazon executive reportedly advised in a company-wide Slack message, according to leaked communications shared on social media.

Notably, while the Presidential order mentions only H1B visa, the companies have asked the H-4 dependent visa holders also to follow the same instructions.

Tech companies are now mailing their employees this – #H1B and #H4 (Dependent) visa holders don’t travel outside US or if you’re out, return within 24 hours 👇 pic.twitter.com/dWg8GuSBlC— Shreya Upadhyaya (@ShreyaOpines) September 20, 2025

One such memo shared on X states, “If you are in H-1B or H-4 status and are currently outside the U.S., we strongly recommend that you do what you can to return to the U.S. tomorrow before the deadline. The Proclamation was released within the last 30 minutes, so we realise that there isn’t much time to make sudden travel arrangements. But again, we strongly encourage you to do your best to return.”

Apple and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which rely heavily on Indian talent, are also reportedly mobilising logistics teams to facilitate rapid returns, fearing a cascade of visa denials that could sideline key projects.

A flight from US to India. People boarded the flight. Found out about the H1B news. Immediately disembarked fearing they won’t be allowed re-entry. Crazy pic.twitter.com/pgoSwK24UC— Gabbar (@GabbbarSingh) September 20, 2025

Social Media posts also show that many H1B visa holders who were about to travel outside the USA for personal or work-related reasons disembarked from flights in the USA after boarding as soon as they got information about the new rule. They stayed back as they feared that they won’t be allowed re-entry without the $100,000 fee.

With this steep fee hike, Donald Trump has effectively killed the famed H1B program. Now hardly any company will be willing to pay this steep fee to hire foreign talent. U.S. tech behemoths, which secured roughly two-thirds of H-1B visas in recent years, now will have to grapple with a talent crunch that could stifle growth. Smaller firms and startups, already cash-strapped, may abandon international hiring altogether. However, question remains on whether they will able local workers with similar skills.

It is almost certain that there will be no new H1B visa applications. Moreover, as the visa comes with a validity period of 3 years, which can be extended to maximum 6 years, the existing visa holders will gradually have to leave the country as and when their visa expires. President Trump has also tightened the Green Card regulations, which means the dream of graduating to Green Card from H1B visa is also killed.

It will be interesting to see how US-based companies deal with this, whether they will hire more locals as Trump intends, or whether they move operations overseas to hire foreign workers.