The Trump administration will ask companies to pay $US100,000 ($A152,000) a year for H-1B worker visas, potentially dealing a big blow to the technology sector that relies heavily on skilled workers from India and China.
Since taking office in January, Trump has kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown, including moves to limit some forms of legal immigration.
The move to reshape the H-1B visa program represents his administration’s most high-profile effort to rework temporary employment visas.
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“A hundred thousand dollars a year for H1-B visas, and all of the big companies are on board. We’ve spoken to them,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Friday.
“If you’re going to train somebody, you’re going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs,” he said.
Trump’s threat to crack down on H1-B visas has become a major flashpoint with the tech industry, which contributed millions of dollars to his presidential campaign.
Critics of the program, including many US technology workers, argue that it allows firms to suppress wages and sideline Americans who could do the jobs.
Supporters, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, say it brings in highly skilled workers essential to filling talent gaps and keeping firms competitive.
Musk, himself a naturalised US citizen born in South Africa, has held an H-1B visa.
Adding new fees “creates disincentive to attract the world’s smartest talent to the US”, said Deedy Das, partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, on X.
“If the US ceases to attract the best talent, it drastically reduces its ability to innovate and grow the economy.”
The new fee could significantly push up costs for companies, particularly smaller tech firms and start-ups.
Roughly two-thirds of jobs secured through the H1-B program are computer-related, government figures show, but employers also use the visa to bring in engineers, educators and healthcare workers.
India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas in 2024, accounting for 71 per cent of approved beneficiaries, while China was a distant second at 11.7 per cent, according to government data.
In the first half of 2025, Amazon.com had more than 10,000 H-1B visas approved, while Microsoft and Meta Platforms had more than 5000 H-1B visa approvals each.
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