The Trump Administration Announces an $100,000 Payment for H-1B Visas: Quick Facts

Last Friday, the Trump Administration announced a change to the H-1B Visa application, specifically, an $100,000 payment for new applications. Below, we break down what this means. 

What is an H1-B visa?: An H1-B visa is typically filed by employers on behalf of employees in the “highly skilled foreign professionals” category (American Immigration, 2025).  Typically, the jobs H1-B visa holders have in the United States require a “bachelor’s degree or the equivalent” (American Immigration, 2025). According to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and The New York Times, the companies with the most employees who currently have H1-B visas are in the technology sector; companies with the most H1-B visa holder employees include Amazon, Meta, and Apple (USCIS, n.d.; Hassan & Kavi, 2025). 

What is the H1-B visa lottery system?: Typically, the United States has a 65,000 cap for H1-B visas; an additional 20,000 can be allocated for “foreign professionals who graduate with a master’s degree or doctorate from a U.S. institution of higher learning” (American Immigration, 2025). However, registration often surpasses the number of H1-B visas available. Therefore, once this occurs, the system goes into a lottery model (American Immigration, 2025). 

What is the change in policy?: The White House released a fact sheet stating the following change: an “$100,000 payment to accompany or supplement H-1B petitions” (White House, 2025). The fact sheet also states that this applies to “certain H-1B aliens as nonimmigrant workers” (White House, 2025). The White House specifically cited the increasing percentage of “IT workers with H-1B visas” and “unemployment among recent computer science graduates” as justification for the new policy (White House, 2025).

Who is impacted?: Since its initial release last Friday, there has been some further clarification regarding who is impacted by this changing policy. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified on X, formerly Twitter, that the fee is “one-time” and occurs at the time of filing the petition (Yip, 2025; White House Press, 2025). Leavitt also said that this will not apply to current H1-B employees or their H1-B renewals, and will not affect their re-entry to the United States. Finally, Leavitt said that this fee only applies to “new visas” (White House Press, 2025). 

Additionally, as employers usually file for a number of employees at one time, it is important to note that the $100,000 fee is per employee, not for the H-1B filing period overall (Collins et. al., 2025). 

For further information on this topic, please reference our Works Cited and Referenced.

Works Cited and Referenced

American Immigration Council. (2025, September 22). “H-1B visa program: Fact sheet.” https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/h1b-visa-program-fact-sheet/

Collins, K., Krolik, A., & Gebeloff, R. (2025, September 25). “The H-1B visa fee: What it means for workers and employers.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/09/25/business/economy/h1b-visa-fee.html 

Hassan, A. & Kavi, A. (2025, September 20). “What Is the H-1B Visa Program, and How Is Trump Changing It?” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/us/politics/h1b-visa-trump-immigration.html 

Ortutay, B., Kim, S.M., & Madhani, A. (2025, September 21). “White House clarifies $100K H-1B visa fee won’t apply to existing holders as Trump stirs anxiety.” Associated Press & PBS NewsHour. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/white-house-clarifies-100k-h-1b-visa-fee-wont-apply-to-existing-holders-as-trump-stirs-anxiety

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (n.d.). “H-1B Employer Data Hub.” https://www.uscis.gov/tools/reports-and-studies/h-1b-employer-data-hub

The White House. (2025, September 19). “Fact sheet: President Donald J. Trump suspends the entry of certain alien nonimmigrant workers.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/09/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-suspends-the-entry-of-certain-alien-nonimmigrant-workers/

White House Press Secretary [@PressSec]. (2025, September 20). To be clear:. [Tweet]. X. https://x.com/PressSec/status/1969495900478488745

Yip, J. (2025, September 22). “Everything Trump is changing with H-1B visas.” CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/22/everything-trump-is-changing-with-h1b-visas.html