Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
The Trump administration is preparing to dramatically raise the cost of H-1B visa applications, proposing a staggering $100,000 fee per petition, a move that would significantly reshape access to the United States’ most popular skilled worker visa program. The proposal, confirmed by a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity, is expected to be enacted through a presidential proclamation that could be signed as early as Friday.
The proposed fee would represent an unprecedented increase, far exceeding the current cost of filing an H-1B visa petition, which typically ranges between $1,700 and $4,500 depending on the employer and whether the applicant uses premium processing. The H-1B program has long been utilized by major technology firms such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and IBM to recruit global talent for jobs in software engineering, data science, and other specialized fields.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor, Amazon was the top recipient of H-1B visas in 2024, securing over 10,000 approvals, followed by a mix of multinational tech companies and Indian outsourcing firms such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Wipro.
While the administration claims the new fee is intended to safeguard American jobs and improve wages, critics argue it is a politically motivated move that could harm the U.S. economy, stifle innovation, and exacerbate labor shortages in key industries.
The H-1B program was originally established in 1990 to allow U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in “specialty occupations” that require at least a bachelor’s degree in fields where domestic talent is scarce such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Each year, the program is capped at 65,000 new visas, with an additional 20,000 reserved for individuals holding advanced degrees from U.S. institutions.
Despite its intentions, the program has become a lightning rod for controversy. Critics contend that some companies use H-1B workers as a cost-cutting measure, hiring foreign labor at lower wages than would be paid to equally qualified U.S. workers. Under current rules, employers must pay the prevailing wage or the actual wage for the job whichever is higher, but critics claim this standard is routinely undercut by misclassifying job roles or listing them at the lowest wage levels.
The Trump administration’s planned fee hike is just one element of a broader effort to reform the program. In addition to imposing the $100,000 fee, the president is expected to direct the Department of Labor to begin a rule-making process that would update wage level requirements and potentially prioritize visa approvals for companies offering the highest salaries.
Supporters of the reform, including labor unions like the AFL-CIO, have long argued that the current lottery-based system for allocating H-1B visas encourages abuse and favors outsourcing companies over employers offering stable, long-term employment. They advocate for a system that awards visas based on salary thresholds and job quality, rather than random selection.
Indeed, the visa lottery has drawn increasing scrutiny. In 2024, the number of lottery submissions fell nearly 40% after new rules were introduced to limit multiple entries by the same applicant—an issue that federal authorities acknowledged had been exploited to boost selection odds. Under the revised system, each applicant was limited to a single entry, regardless of how many job offers they received.
Doug Rand, a former policy advisor at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), described the current system as having a “split personality disorder.” According to Rand, roughly half of all H-1B visas go to large companies offering long-term employment, while the other half are claimed by staffing or consulting firms, some of which are single-person operations that exist primarily to subcontract foreign workers to other businesses.
“They’re basically entering the lottery so they can hire people that they then rent out to larger companies,” Rand said. “There’s a lot of misbehavior and chicanery in this part of the system.”
The proposed $100,000 fee, if implemented, would likely price out smaller firms and consulting agencies that rely on volume rather than high salaries. Critics warn, however, that it could also discourage legitimate companies from hiring international talent, thereby limiting the U.S.’s competitiveness in global tech and research sectors.
The policy shift comes as part of a broader immigration platform that seeks to limit both legal and illegal immigration, and follows other restrictions placed on work visas during Trump’s presidency. Notably, it stands in contrast to the personal history of First Lady Melania Trump, who came to the U.S. in 1996 on an H-1B visa to work as a model.
The new policy is expected to be met with legal challenges from businesses and immigration advocates alike. Yet it underscores a broader political narrative: an appeal to voters who feel the American labor market has been undermined by globalization and foreign competition.
As the 2024 presidential election looms, Trump’s move is likely to galvanize both supporters and opponents. While some see the H-1B crackdown as a long-overdue correction to a flawed system, others view it as an economically damaging decision that punishes legitimate businesses and deters global talent from contributing to the American workforce.
For now, businesses, workers, and universities are watching closely, bracing for what could be a fundamental transformation in the U.S. approach to high-skilled immigration.
