The White House on Friday defended President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, citing cases where U.S. companies fired thousands of American workers while hiring lower-paid foreign employees.
Defending the decision to overhaul the rules, the White House said in its statement that the share of IT workers with H-1B visas has risen from 32% in FY 2003 to over 65% in recent years.
The White House said, “Unemployment among recent computer science graduates has reached 6.1% and 7.5% for computer engineering graduates — more than double the rates for biology or art history majors.
The number of foreign STEM workers in the United States has more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, while overall STEM employment only increased 44.5% during that time.”
Sharing details of companies that have removed American workers by those holding H-1B visas, the White House said one of the firms approved for 5,189 H-1B workers in FY 2025 was laying off roughly 16,000 U.S. employees this year.
The facesheet referred to another company approved for 1,698 H-1B workers in FY 2025 yet announced it was laying off 2,400 U.S. workers in Oregon in July.
“A third company has reduced its U.S. workforce by 27,000 since 2022 while receiving 25,075 H-1B approvals,” the factsheet said.
The White House factsheet claimed American IT workers have even been reportedly forced to train their foreign replacements under nondisclosure agreements.
White House Clarification
The White House on Saturday issued a major clarification that the newly announced $100,000 H-1B visa fee will be a ‘one-time’ payment that will be imposed on new applicants only.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued the clarification and wrote, X: “This is NOT an annual fee. It’s a one-time fee that applies only to the petition.”
She further said, “Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter.”
In her clarification, she further said, “H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would; whatever ability they have to do that is not impacted by yesterday’s proclamation.”
She said the rule will only apply to new applicants and not in the case of renewals or current visa holders.
“It will first apply in the next upcoming lottery cycle,” she said.
US President Donald Trump has signed a petition that will impose a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas.
The announcement sparked a strong reaction from the tech world, with a large number of Indian professionals applying for it every year.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) further clarified that the new rule will not apply to petitions filed before September 21.
(With inputs from IBNS)
