Trump to add $100,000 fee to H-1B visa applications in latest crackdown on foreign workers
White House cites STEM concerns and national security as administration moves to tighten the guest-worker program.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order Friday that would impose a $100,000 fee on all H-1B visa applications, a White House official confirmed to the New York Post. The move represents the latest step in a broader crackdown on foreign workers entering the United States for employment opportunities, with officials framing the measure as a way to limit the program to higher-income applicants.
The H-1B program is a key pathway for U.S. companies to hire skilled foreign workers, particularly in technology and other specialized fields. The program admits hundreds of thousands of workers into the United States each year, and critics say some employers use it to hire lower-wage workers, potentially affecting wages for American workers. The administration has argued that limiting the program could help protect domestic job opportunities and address wage pressures in certain sectors.
Bloomberg reported that the White House is particularly concerned with U.S. students shunning STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields due to foreign competition and views the presence of foreign workers as a national security threat. The administration’s framing suggests a broader philosophy that foreign labor should be constrained in circumstances where it could influence national interests, including education and security considerations.
Tech companies rely heavily on the H-1B visa program to fill skilled roles, and observers have noted the program’s impact on the tech industry’s ability to scale talent. Newsweek estimated earlier this year that around 60% of computer-related jobs are filled by H-1B visa holders, underscoring why any significant policy shift could reverberate across the sector.
Details on exemptions, carve-outs, or timelines for implementing the higher fee were not disclosed in the immediate briefings, and White House officials have suggested the measure is aimed at shifting the applicant pool toward higher-income entrants. The administration has signaled that the policy is part of a broader effort to recalibrate how foreign talent is admitted to the United States and to address perceived imbalances in the labor-market impact of the program.
The executive order, if signed as described, would mark another milestone in a sequence of immigration-related actions pursued by the Trump administration. While officials emphasized the goal of protecting American workers, industry groups and foreign-branded employers have warned that such steps could complicate talent pipelines for U.S. companies and slow innovation in sectors that rely on international expertise.
The White House’s confirmation to the New York Post about the Friday signing date places the policy within a broader narrative of tightening immigration controls and rebalancing labor market dynamics in ways lawmakers and business groups have debated for years. Bloomberg’s reporting on the policy described the administration’s rationale in terms of national security and competitive education concerns, while Bloomberg’s and AP’s contemporaneous coverage framed the move as part of a sustained crackdown on foreign workers. The government has not provided detailed guidance on implementation, including how the fee would be collected or whether any exemptions would apply to students, researchers, or other categories.