US President Donald Trump has extended by a year the USD 1,00,000 fee imposed on employers for bringing foreign workers to the US on H-1B visas, the White House said.
In a presidential proclamation issued on Friday, Trump said the 2025 decision to impose the USD 1,00,000 fee had resulted in a 92 per cent decline in H-1B registrations by large IT outsourcing firms.
“An extension of the 2025 Proclamation will continue to protect the economic and national security interests of the United States, improve labour market access for American workers and graduates, and ensure that employers recruit only the most highly-skilled and essential alien workers when needed in line with the original intent of the programme,” Trump said.
The fee hike had been due to expire this month. The 2025 order did not cover visas granted to foreign nationals already in the US on student visas, who account for a significant share of new H-1B recipients. It also did not apply to renewals of existing visas.
Indians remain biggest H-1B beneficiaries
Indians continue to make up the largest beneficiary group under the US H-1B visa programme.
The USD 1,00,000 fee has also faced legal challenges and is currently being contested in two separate federal courts.
Under the latest order, the Secretary of Labour has 30 days to begin reviewing data from previously submitted labour condition applications. The review will assess whether further action against employers sponsoring H-1B workers is required.
More scrutiny for H-1B applications
Trump also issued a separate proclamation aimed at increasing scrutiny of H-1B applications through closer coordination between US government agencies.
“The Order enhances programme integrity in the H-1B visa program by improving interagency coordination and directing enhanced scrutiny of H-1B visa applications where there is a heightened risk that American workers would be laid off,” a White House fact sheet said.
The order directs the Secretaries of State, Labour and Homeland Security to consider recent or planned layoffs of similarly situated US workers when reviewing H-1B petitions.
Trump said the H-1B programme was created to bring in uniquely skilled and highly specialised foreign workers to supplement the US economy.
“Instead, the program has been widely abused by certain employers, third-party placement groups, and outsourcing firms to undercut and displace the supply of skilled United States labour,” Trump said.