Trump signs proclamation adding $100K annual fee for H-1B visa
applications
[September 20, 2025] By
BARBARA ORTUTAY and SEUNG MIN KIM
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation
that will require a $100,000 annual visa fee for highly-skilled foreign
workers and rolled out a $1 million “gold card” visa as a pathway to
U.S. citizenship for wealthy individuals, moves that face near-certain
legal challenges amid widespread criticism he is sidestepping Congress.
If the moves survive legal muster, they will deliver staggering price
increases. The visa fee for skilled workers would jump from $215. The
fee for investor visas, which are common in many European countries,
would climb from $10,000-$20,000 a year.
H-1B visas, which require at least a bachelor's degree, are meant for
high-skilled jobs that tech companies find difficult to fill. Critics
say the program is a pipeline for overseas workers who are often willing
to work for as little as $60,000 annually, well below the $100,000-plus
salaries typically paid to U.S. technology workers.
Trump on Friday insisted that the tech industry would not oppose the
move. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said “all big companies” are on
board.
Representatives for the biggest tech companies, including Amazon, Apple,
Google and Meta, did not immediately respond to messages for comment on
Friday. Microsoft declined to comment.
Lutnick said the change will likely result in far fewer H-1B visas than
the 85,000 annual cap allows because “it’s just not economic anymore.”
“If you’re going to train people, you’re going to train Americans.”
Lutnick said on a conference call with reporters. "If you have a very
sophisticated engineer and you want to bring them in ... then you can
pay $100,000 a year for your H-1B visa.”
Trump also announced he will start selling a “gold card” visa with a
path to U.S. citizenship for $1 million after vetting. For companies, it
will cost $2 million to sponsor an employee.
The “Trump Platinum Card” will be available for a $5 million and allow
foreigners to spend up to 270 days in the U.S. without being subject to
U.S. taxes on non-U.S. income. Trump announced a $5 million gold card in
February to replace an existing investor visa — this is now the platinum
card.
Lutnick said the gold and platinum cards would replace employment-based
visas that offer paths to citizenship, including for professors,
scientists, artists and athletes.
Critics of H-1Bs visas who say they are used to replace American workers
applauded the move. U.S. Tech Workers, an advocacy group, called it “the
next best thing” to abolishing the visas altogether.
Doug Rand, a senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services during the Biden administration, said the proposed fee increase
was “ludicrously lawless.”
“This isn’t real policy — it’s fan service for immigration
restrictionists,” Rand said. “Trump gets his headlines, and inflicts a
jolt of panic, and doesn’t care whether this survives first contact with
the courts.”
[to top of second column] |
A poster showing the Trump Gold Card is pictured as President Donald
Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Sept.
19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
 Lutnick said the H-1B fees and gold
card could be introduced by the president but the platinum card
needs congressional approval.
Historically, H-1B visas have been doled out through lottery. This
year, Amazon was by far the top recipient of H-1B visas with more
than 10,000 awarded, followed by Tata Consultancy, Microsoft, Apple
and Google. Geographically, California has the highest number of
H-1B workers.
Critics say H-1B spots often go to entry-level jobs, rather than
senior positions with unique skill requirements. And while the
program isn’t supposed to undercut U.S. wages or displace U.S.
workers, critics say companies can pay less by classifying jobs at
the lowest skill levels, even if the specific workers hired have
more experience.
As a result, many U.S. companies find it cheaper to contract out
help desks, programming and other basic tasks to consulting
companies such as Wipro, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Tata in India
and IBM and Cognizant in the U.S. These consulting companies hire
foreign workers, often from India, and contract them out to U.S.
employers looking to save money.
First lady Melania Trump, the former Melania Knauss, was granted an
H-1B work visa in October 1996 to work as a model. She was born in
Slovenia.
In 2024, lottery bids for the visas plunged nearly 40%, which
authorities said was due to success against people who were “gaming
the system” by submitting multiple, sometimes dubious, applications
to unfairly increase chances of being selected.
Major technology companies that use H-1B visas sought changes after
massive increases in bids left their employees and prospective hires
with slimmer chances of winning the random lottery. Facing what it
acknowledged was likely fraud and abuse, USCIS this year said each
employee had only one shot at the lottery, whether the person had
one job offer or 50.
Critics welcomed the change but said more needs to be done. The
AFL-CIO wrote last year that while changes to the lottery “included
some steps in the right direction,” it fell short of needed reforms.
The labor group wants visas awarded to companies that pay the
highest wages instead of by random lottery, a change that Trump
sought during his first term in the White House.
___
Ortutay reported from Oakland, Calif. Associated Press writers
Adriana Gomez Licon in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and Elliot Spagat in
San Diego contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
