Trump extends push for $100,000 H-1B visas by another year

President Donald ​Trump has extended an executive order ‌that would ​impose a fee of $100,000 for H-1B non-immigrant visas by another year, the White House said on Friday. US employers seeking to hire skilled ‌foreign workers can use the federal government's H-1B visa program for a fee, allowing tech and other professionals from abroad to work in the United States for a few years.

Trump, who has pursued an aggressive immigration ‌crackdown, has criticized the program and wants to permanently raise the fee from between $2,000 and $5,000 to ‌at least $100,000, though the attempt has faced legal challenges. A Boston-based appeals court is reviewing a June decision by a federal judge who deemed the higher fee imposed by the Trump administration illegal and blocked the government from collecting it. Another court is ⁠considering ​whether a judge properly rejected ⁠a challenge to the fee by the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest US business lobbying group.

Trump's initial order for ⁠a fee hike, first released in September 2025, was set to expire this month. It did not apply to ​visas granted to foreign citizens already in the United States on student visas, who make up ⁠a large share of new H-1B recipients, or to renewals of current visas. Despite criticism that some companies use the visas ⁠to ​hire lower-paid foreign workers instead of Americans, business groups and companies say they help recruit highly skilled professionals and address a lack of qualified US workers in some industries.

The visas, established by ⁠Congress in 1990, are especially critical for tech companies seeking to recruit from India and China. Changes to how ⁠potential visa holders are ⁠scrutinized and processed have impacted companies' hiring and expansion plans, with some top H-1B users, such as Google parent company Alphabet , moving to increase operations in ‌India.