President Donald Trump has dealt a major blow to Indian tech professionals in the US and big tech companies by signing a proclamation that ramps up restrictions on the H-1B visa program. The move slaps a whopping $100,000 annual fee on every H-1B application, aiming to cut back on the program’s use and push companies to hire more American workers instead.
Trump inked the deal Friday at the White House, stressing that the goal is simple: “The incentive is to hire American workers.” He added, “We need workers. We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick backed the policy hard, explaining it will make it too expensive for companies to bring in foreign talent. “No more will these big tech companies or other big companies train foreign workers,” Lutnick said. “They have to pay the government $100,000, then they have to pay the employee. So, it’s just not economic. You’re going to train somebody—one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs. That’s the policy here: $100,000 a year for H-1B visas.”
Under the new rules, H-1B visas last a maximum of six years total, whether for new hires or renewals. Lutnick put it bluntly: “Either the person is very valuable to the company and America, or they’re going to depart. Stop the nonsense of letting people just come into this country on these visas that were given away for free.”
The proclamation blasts the H-1B program for being “deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.” It argues this setup hurts both the economy and national security. On top of that, the Secretary of Labor will start revising prevailing wage rules to make the system fairer for US workers.
Trump and Lutnick claim all the major tech companies support this shift. “They love it. They really love it. They need it,” Trump said. “I think they’re going to be very happy. Everyone’s going to be happy. And we’re going to be able to keep people in our country that are going to be very productive people.”
In a related move, Trump also signed an executive order launching a “gold card” program. It lets individuals snag a visa for $1 million, while corporations can buy one for $2 million—offering a pricey fast-track option for the ultra-wealthy.
The H-1B visa program lets US companies hire skilled foreign workers in tech, engineering, and other fields, but it’s capped at 85,000 new visas each year. This change will hit American tech giants hard, especially since Indian-born workers grabbed about 73% of approved H-1B visas in 2023, according to Pew Research. China followed with 12%, thanks to India’s massive pool of skilled immigrants and long approval backlogs.
Just last month, the Department of Homeland Security floated tweaks to ditch the random lottery for a “weighted selection process” that favors higher-skilled applicants. Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice is cracking down on shady hiring under H-1B rules. They’re urging workers and bosses to report cases where US citizens get passed over for foreign visa holders. Leading the charge is Harmeet Dhillon, the India-born Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the DOJ. In August, she revealed the department has launched “several” investigations and acted against “some” employers. “Send us your leads,” she called out to Americans via the DOJ hotline.
It’s a sharp turn for Trump, who just last December—after the elections—praised the H-1B program. “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” he said back then. That came amid pushback from far-right activists, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk—even a former Trump advisor—vowing to fight for H-1B visas.
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