Trump extends $100,000 H-1B visa fee order by another year

Washington: US President Donald Trump has extended by another year a proclamation that requires a $100,000 payment for certain H-1B non-immigrant visa applications, the White House said on Friday.

The H-1B programme allows US employers to hire skilled foreign workers, including professionals in the technology sector, to work in the United States for a limited period.

Trump, who has pursued an aggressive immigration crackdown, has criticised the programme and sought to raise the cost of H-1B visas from the traditional range of about $2,000 to $5,000 to $100,000. The policy has faced multiple legal challenges.

A Boston-based appeals court is reviewing a June ruling by a federal judge who found the higher fee imposed by the Trump administration illegal and blocked the government from collecting it. Another court is considering whether a judge was correct to reject a challenge to the fee brought by the US Chamber of Commerce, the country's largest business lobbying group.

Trump's initial order for the fee increase, issued in September 2025, was due to expire this month. The restriction does not apply to foreign citizens already in the United States on student visas, who account for a large share of new H-1B recipients, or to renewals of existing visas.

Under the renewed proclamation, the $100,000 payment requirement will remain in place for certain H-1B workers outside the United States until September 21, 2027, subject to specified exceptions.

The administration has argued that the measure is intended to address abuses of the H-1B programme, including the use of lower-paid foreign workers in place of US workers. Business groups and companies, however, have said the programme helps employers recruit highly skilled professionals and address shortages of qualified workers in some industries.

The H-1B visa programme, established by Congress in 1990, is particularly important for technology companies recruiting workers from countries including India and China.

Changes to the scrutiny and processing of H-1B applications have affected companies' hiring and expansion plans, with some major H-1B users, including Google parent Alphabet, moving to increase their operations in India.

The White House said the renewed restrictions are intended to continue addressing what the administration describes as abuses of the H-1B programme. The administration also said the $100,000 requirement had been paid for more than 700 petitions since the original proclamation took effect in September 2025.

The White House has separately directed federal agencies to enhance scrutiny of H-1B applications, including by considering employers' recent or planned layoffs of similarly situated US workers.