The U.S. will require an annual payment of $100,000 a year to grant H1-B visas for highly skilled professionals to encourage American hires in high-value-added sectors, President Donald Trump revealed Friday, Sept. 19, also announcing a new “gold card” in exchange for a minimum payment of $1 million.
According to the proclamation signed by Trump today, the increase in the fees that companies pay in order to hire foreign nationals on H-1B visas seeks to “protect American workers” by ensuring that foreign hires are so highly qualified that they cannot be replaced by nationals.
100,000 for the H-1B visa
#WATCH | President Donald J Trump signs an Executive Order to raise the fee that companies pay to sponsor H-1B applicants to $100,000.
White House staff secretary Will Scharf says, “One of the most abused visa systems is the H1-B non-immigrant visa program. This is supposed to… pic.twitter.com/25LrI4KATn
– ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2025
“The idea is that large technology companies and other large companies will stop training foreign workers,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during the signing ceremony.
“They will have to pay the full salary to the employee (plus $100,000 a year for the visa). It is not cost effective.
“If they are going to train someone, let it be a recent graduate from one of the best universities in our country. Let them train Americans. Enough of bringing in foreigners to fill our jobs,” added Lutnick, who assured that “all the big companies are in agreement” with this new policy.
Trump has previously criticized the H1-B visa on the grounds that, in addition to discouraging the hiring of Americans, it forces a downward cut in wage bases.
What is the H-1B visa?
The H1B visa that will now cost $100,000 is a nonimmigrant visa that allows U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in specialty occupations.
It has been recurrently employed in recent years by companies in the technology sector, such as those controlled by tycoon Elon Musk.
According to estimates based on government data, some 700,000 people are believed to be currently living in the United States on this visa, mostly from India.
Trump announces new gold card
In turn, Trump signed this Friday, September 19, an executive order to create a new type of program for highly specialized and financially backed foreigners that has been dubbed the“gold card.”
“This program will create a new visa pathway for foreign nationals with extraordinary ability who are willing to contribute to the United States by paying $1 million to the U.S. Treasury, or $2 million if a company sponsors that individual,” Lutnick said.
This “will allow them to access an expedited visa process as part of this new gold card program,” added the Secretary of Commerce.
Lutnick also said that until now the U.S. has been receiving immigrants who were professionally “below the U.S. average”.
“That’s why we’re going to change it. We will only accept people with exceptional skills. Instead of them coming to take jobs away from Americans, they will create businesses and create jobs for Americans. This program will raise more than $100 billion for the U.S. Treasury, money that we will use to reduce taxes and the public debt,” he concluded.
Filed under: H1B visa 100000 dollars
With information from EFE
