US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that will add a $100,000 (£74,000) annual fee for applicants to the H-1B visa programme for skilled foreign workers.
Trump’s order mentions “abuse” of the programme and will restrict entry unless payment is made.
Critics have long argued that H-1Bs undercut the American workforce, while supporters – including billionaire Elon Musk – argue it allows the US to attract top talent from around the world.
In another order, Trump set up a new “gold card” to fast-track visas for certain immigrants in exchange for fees starting at £1m.
Trump’s order is due to come into force on 21 September. It would only apply to new requests, but companies would have to pay the same amount for each applicant for six years, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.
“The company needs to decide… is the person valuable enough to have a $100,000-a-year payment to the government, or they should head home, and they should go hire an American,” he said, adding: “All of the big companies are on board.”
Since 2004, the number of H-1B applications has been capped at 85,000 per year.
Until now, H-1B visas have carried various administrative fees totalling around $1,500.
Data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shows that applications for H-1B visas for the next fiscal year fell to about 359,000 – a four-year low.
The greatest beneficiary of the programme the previous fiscal year was Amazon, followed by tech giants Tata, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google, according to government statistics.
Late on Friday, Amazon told employees with H-1B visas who were already in the US to remain there.
According to an internal advisory, seen by Business Insider, the company said those abroad should “try to return before tomorrow’s deadline if possible”.
Anyone unable to make it back before the order takes effect should avoid attempting US re-entry “until further guidance is provided”, the company is also quoted as saying.
