Trump to charge $100K for H-1B visas

[Morphine Prince 109,654]

President Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee for H-1B visas sowed mass confusion and panic among top U.S. companies overnight, forcing the White House to clarify the requirements.

On Saturday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt took to X to explain which visa holders the fee applies to and when.

“This is NOT an annual fee,” she said. “It’s a one-time fee that applies only to the petition.”

Leavitt added that existing H-1B holders currently outside the U.S. will not be charged $100,000 to come back, and that they can continue to leave and re-enter as they do right now.

Trump’s new H-1B policy also applies only to new visas, not renewals for current holders, she explained, noting that it will take effect in the next lottery cycle.

On Friday, Trump signed a proclamation that imposes a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas and announced a $1 million “gold card” visa that can serve as a pathway for wealthy investors to gain U.S. citizenship.

At the time, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested the fee, which kicks in at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday, would be annual.

When asked if the policy applies to existing holders, he replied that companies with H-1B employees must ask “Is the person valuable enough to have a $100,000 a year payment to the government? Or they should head home and go hire an American?”

That caused U.S. tech giants, which rely heavily on H-1Bs, to warn employees with those visas against foreign travel.

Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and others told affected employees to return to the U.S. on Saturday and cancel any plans to leave the U.S.

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/white-house-scrambles-clear-h-002724934.html

 

[River 127,368]

I have better things to do with this money than paying this to live in Trump's America 

[Bambino 24,321]

A question for Americans: can these decision that Trump imposed on visas be undone when another President comes along?

Edited September 21, 2025 by Bambino

[RAMROD 117,021]

1 minute ago, Bambino said:

A question for Americans: can these decision that Trump imposed on visas be undone when another President comes along?

It can. Just like this orange undone every single thing Biden and Obama did during their tenure

[Addison Rae 18,093]

[InTheCloset 21,769]

Im preparing for the US medical licensing exam and everyone is so disappointed as after residency you need an h1b to work there. It will become more clear in a few days if healthcare workers are capped or exempt. If not the programs would hire us gradutes with low scores instead of imgs. Im honestly so sad. Just when you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel the mountain collapses on you

[HEARTSTOP 3,154]

1 hour ago, InTheCloset said:

Im preparing for the US medical licensing exam and everyone is so disappointed as after residency you need an h1b to work there. It will become more clear in a few days if healthcare workers are capped or exempt. If not the programs would hire us gradutes with low scores instead of imgs. Im honestly so sad. Just when you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel the mountain collapses on you

I am so sorry for that. You probably invested a lot of you into this thing. But honestly, if you can, try to go to another country. Literally half of the world has a better healthcare system than the US.

[Shyane 1,712]

5 hours ago, InTheCloset said:

Im preparing for the US medical licensing exam and everyone is so disappointed as after residency you need an h1b to work there. It will become more clear in a few days if healthcare workers are capped or exempt. If not the programs would hire us gradutes with low scores instead of imgs. Im honestly so sad. Just when you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel the mountain collapses on you

Same situation here 🙁

[Economy 52,844]

I think thats a ludicrous amount of money

 

That being said, as much as I hate to agree with Trump on something it seems like its something of a good idea to deter over use of foreigners for just any casual job plus a source of revenue.

 

But again, i think 100K might be a lil too high

[calmar 22,768]

8 hours ago, RAMROD said:

It can. Just like this orange undone every single thing Biden and Obama did during their tenure

The problem will be people believing America is worth anything after this current... kerfuffle... has blown over. We've become a complete and utter joke; it'll take decades, if ever, to be taken seriously as allies or whatnot again. 

I already was sensitive to breaking american stereotypes whenever I went abroad by not being loud, rude, uneducated, etc... but god now I'll have to convince people I'm not maga or fascist on top of it.

[InTheCloset 21,769]

18 hours ago, HEARTSTOP said:

I am so sorry for that. You probably invested a lot of you into this thing. But honestly, if you can, try to go to another country. Literally half of the world has a better healthcare system than the US.

Im in the middle and i skipped the mandatory internship required by my country to prepare for it. I mean i will do it next year but a lot has gone it. Plus it always has been a dream of mine. 
 

 

13 hours ago, Shyane said:

Same situation here 🙁

if you get any updates about health workers being exempt please do tell me because im freaking out

[Bronco 24,930]

13 hours ago, Economy said:

I think thats a ludicrous amount of money

 

That being said, as much as I hate to agree with Trump on something it seems like its something of a good idea to deter over use of foreigners for just any casual job plus a source of revenue.

 

But again, i think 100K might be a lil too high

The reality is that unless something is done to make education more accessible in America, then there will never be enough domestic intake to fill the vacancies these international workers fill. 
H-1B isn't for casual jobs, it's for designated speciality occupations & defense contractors. 

In the 2024 FY, 399,395 H-1Bs were approved - only 35% of these were new, 65% were continuing employment. 
Of that 255,250 (64%) were in the tech industry (with a 30/70 split between new and continuation). 
40,669 were in engineering, surveying and architecture. 
23,778 were in education. 
16,947 were in healthcare and medical fields. 

These are all fields where there are well observed domestic staff shortages in multiple western nations including the US. 
And the governments are doing nothing to ensure a domestic talent production pipeline exists to fill these vaccancies. 

That's before you look at the fact that the H-1B visa system means that these staff are forced to be loyal to the employer - meaning the employer can afford to give less consideration to fair treatment because it's far harder for a worker on a visa tied to continued employment to look for alternative sources of income rather than stay in a bad job. It's quasi-indentured labour. 

 

[Creyk 18,638]

20 hours ago, InTheCloset said:

Im preparing for the US medical licensing exam and everyone is so disappointed as after residency you need an h1b to work there. It will become more clear in a few days if healthcare workers are capped or exempt. If not the programs would hire us gradutes with low scores instead of imgs. Im honestly so sad. Just when you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel the mountain collapses on you

 

14 hours ago, Shyane said:

Same situation here 🙁

Honestly, the US is not worth it. Just go to Norway if you don't want to stay at home.

[FfFfFfFF 58,111]

Headline sounds like he is introducting dynamic pricing for his MPG Ticketmaster US exclusive tour. The girlies should be scared. 

[InTheCloset 21,769]

2 hours ago, Creyk said:

 

Honestly, the US is not worth it. Just go to Norway if you don't want to stay at home.

But unfortunately the world considers US as the best system in healthcare. If you get a match there you can later on move anywhere you want because the US medical license is accepted almost everywhere. Even in my country if youve done that you get a very high paying job in the best hospitals