By Arun Nair,Rishabh Madhavendra Pratap

Copyright timesnownews

The Trump administration on Saturday justified its order to impose a staggering USD 1,00,000 annual fee on H-1B visas, emphasising that the move was necessary to “curb abuses that displace US workers and undermine national security”. The move is expected to hit India the most as 71 per cent of the 3,99,395 H-1B visas approved in 2024 were received by Indians, followed by China with just 11.7 per cent. The H1-B fee hike is part of President Donald Trump plan to address the abuse of the program, stop the undercutting of wages, and protect our national security, it said. “The Trump Administration issued new guidance to ensure illegal aliens are not allowed access to federal workforce development resources and related grants, protecting job trainings for American workers,” the White House said in a statement. The Proclamation directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to restrict approvals for petitions from aliens that are currently outside the United States that are not accompanied by the payment, and allows case-by-case exemptions if in the national interest, it said. “The Proclamation requires employers to retain documentation of payment remittance, with the Secretary of State verifying payment during the petition process and the Departments of State and Homeland Security denying entry for non-payment for the relevant aliens and taking other relevant steps needed to implement the Proclamation,” it added. Lower-paid foreign labor has created an economic and national security threat to the nation, it said. “Unemployment among recent computer science graduates has reached 6.1% and 7.5% for computer engineering graduates — more than double the rates for biology or art history majors. The number of foreign STEM workers in the United States has more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, while overall STEM employment only increased 44.5% during that time,” it said, citing unemployment among US computer engineering graduates. The action was necessary as the share of IT workers with H-1B visas has risen from 32% in FY 2003 to over 65% in recent years, the White House said. ALSO READ: Travel for Diwali, Weddings Cancelled: Indian H-1B holders Display ‘Crazy Sense of Panic, Worry’ “American companies are laying off their American technology workers and seemingly replacing them with H-1B workers: One company was approved for 5,189 H-1B workers in FY 2025, while laying off roughly 16,000 U.S. employees this year. Another company was approved for 1,698 H-1B workers in FY 2025, yet announced it was laying off 2,400 U.S. workers in Oregon in July. A third company has reduced its U.S. workforce by 27,000 since 2022 while receiving 25,075 H-1B approvals. Yet another company reportedly cut 1,000 American jobs in February despite receiving 1,137 H-1B approvals for FY 2025,” it said. American IT workers have even been reportedly forced to train their foreign replacements under nondisclosure agreements, the White House said, warning that the H-1B program is creating disincentives for future American workers to choose STEM careers, which threatens our national security. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News and around the World.