Trump Administration Announces $100,000 Fee for New H1-B Applicants

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that they will be implementing a $100,000 fee for all H1-B applicants, drastically changing immigration for the next few years.

An H1-B is a non-immigrant visa where foreign workers can come to the United States to work in a specific occupation where they are needed. Companies are required to sponsor a visa for people on an H1-B, resulting in a lottery fee of $215 and a filing fee of $780.

However, that number is expected to drastically increase following the Trump administration's latest announcement. Trump announced on Friday that all new H1-B applicants will need to pay a $100,000 fee to arrive in the US, sparking outrage and chaos across the world.

The H1-B visa system is heavily utilized by the entire world, with hundreds of thousands of people applying each year to attempt to come to the United States and build a better future. For 2025 alone, over 479,000 people applied for the program, but the annual cap for bachelor's degrees is just 65,000 people. Another 20,000 are allowed into the program if they are coming with an advanced degree from an American institution, but they are often transitioning from an existing student visa like an F-1.

Among these applicants, around 70-75% of them come from India, and Indians are currently the richest minority in the United States, with an average household salary of $151,000 in 2023. Many of these Indians aspire to move to the US to build a new future, moving into highly-skilled professions like medicine, engineering, and IT, but it is extremely rare for an H1-B applicant to possess $100,000 that they can pay to the US government as part of their filing fee.

Within the US, various tech giants have expressed their displeasure with the fee, as they also rely on immigrants when hiring new employees. Amazon is currently the largest employer of H1-B visa holders, with over 10,000 of them in their workforce, and they aren't the only ones. Microsoft and Meta each maintain over 5,000 employees on H1-Bs, while Apple and Google have around 4,000 each.

Tech isn't the only industry that relies on H1-Bs, though. Major banking corporations, such as JPMorgan Chase, also employ a large number of H1-B users, along with large consulting firms like EY and Deloitte.

Trump, on the other hand, has maintained that the move will help companies work towards hiring more American workers. Immigrants from other countries offer a cheaper alternative for big tech companies, who attempt to hire large amounts of highly-skilled workers at the lowest pay rate possible. Meanwhile, skilled Americans are often left in the dust, as companies offer the job to the immigrant who asks for less to do the same work.

Now, Trump's new fee essentially requires companies to employ American workers, as there are very few companies willing to pay $100,000 in filing fees to sponsor a foreign worker who does not have the money to pay for it. Experts fear, though, that there will not be enough Americans to fill the gaps, as many industries simply rely on immigrant workers to function.

However, the fee does not apply to existing H1-B visa holders who are currently residing in the United States or abroad, nor does it apply to H1-B visa holders who are looking to renew their visa. Following the initial, vague announcement on Friday, the White House was forced to make another emergency announcement on Saturday clearing up the chaos. Many people had mistakenly believed that the $100,000 was an annual fee, while others were not clear on the fact that only new applicants would receive the fee.

The fee went into effect last night at midnight and will last for one year unless it is extended, but it is expected to face various legal challenges before it is truly in the clear. Numerous experts have pointed out Trump's lack of authority to impose such a fee, but whether opposing lawyers will be successful in court is yet to be seen. Nevertheless, the US economy is sure to take a significant hit as long as the fee remains in place, and application numbers are sure to plummet.

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Image credit to Bloomberg