H-1B visa fee hike: Five key takeaways from Trump’s executive order

Published on: Sept 20, 2025 07:50 am IST

President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order hiking the H-1B visa fees.

President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order hiking the fees for H-1B visas.

US President Donald Trump, in the executive order, noted that IT firms have ‘manipulated’ the H-1B system.(Bloomberg)

“The H-1B nonimmigrant visa program was created to bring temporary workers into the United States to perform additive, high-skilled functions, but it has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor,” the statement from the President said.

“Information technology (IT) firms in particular have prominently manipulated the H-1B system, significantly harming American workers in computer-related fields,” he further observed.

With that, Trump declared that H-1B visa petitions would have to be accompanied by a payment of $100,000. Here are the key takeaways from the executive order the President signed.

H-1B visa fee hike: Takeaways from Trump’s executive order

President Trump, in the executive order, outlined the conditions and exceptions that would apply to H-1B visa applicants.

The order goes into effect at 12:01 am eastern daylight time on September 21, 2025. It applies ‘only to aliens who enter or attempt to enter the United States after the effective date of this proclamation’After a year from this date, the restriction shall disappear if an extension is not madeThe Secretary of Homeland Security can waive this for ‘an individual alien, all aliens working for a company, or all aliens working in an industry’ if employing them as H-1B specialty occupation workers is in national interest, and if it does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the nationEmployers have to keep proof of payment, the Secretary of State has to verify receipt of payment, and the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State are tasked with denying entry to those whose employers have not made this paymentTrump also directed the Secretary of Labor to initiate a rulemaking to revise the current wage levels to reflect the policy goals of the proclamation. The Secretary of Homeland Security, meanwhile, has been asked to begin a rulemaking to ‘prioritize the admission as nonimmigrants of high-skilled and high-paid aliens.’

The president also set a timeline of no later than 30 days after the H-1B lottery that follows this proclamation for a report to be submitted to him, which will contain a recommendation of ‘whether an extension or renewal of the restriction on entry pursuant to section 1 of this proclamation is in the interests of the United States.’

This will come from the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, he detailed.

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