President Trump has announced a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. skilled worker visa system, introducing a $100,000 annual fee for H-1B visas and launching a new “gold card” program. The H-1B fee, which applies to new applicants and can extend for up to six years, is designed to discourage companies from relying on lower-wage foreign workers and instead push them to hire Americans. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the changes will ensure that only the most valuable foreign workers are admitted.
The impact of this policy was felt immediately when Trump issued a surprise executive order applying the $100,000 fee to all new and renewed H-1B applications, effective September 21.
The order also blocks H-1B holders from reentering the U.S. without their employer paying the fee. Tech and finance companies scrambled to respond. Amazon, which employs nearly 15,000 H-1B workers, told staff not to attempt reentry after the deadline.
Microsoft warned that the order left “little time” to adjust and advised workers to remain in the U.S. to avoid being locked out. Meta and JPMorgan issued similar guidance, urging employees overseas to return within 24 hours if possible. The disruption highlighted the dependence of major U.S. companies on foreign-born engineers and developers.
The H-1B visa program was originally created in 1990 to let U.S. employers temporarily fill gaps in the labor market by hiring foreign workers in specialized occupations. Its architect, former Congressman Bruce Morrison, envisioned a system that brought in exceptional talent with the opportunity for permanent residence. His motto was “Green cards, not guest workers.” The program was never intended to provide a revolving door of lower-paid temporary labor.
Morrison has since argued that the program was hijacked. Instead of recruiting rare skills, he says companies use it to displace Americans with cheaper labor: “The workers being brought in don’t know anything more than the workers they’re replacing. They know less… This is not about skills, this is about costs.”
One of the clearest distortions has been the rise of outsourcing firms, often referred to as “body shops.” These companies now account for nearly half of all H-1B visas. Their model relies on recruiting workers with modest résumés, paying them below-market wages, and offshoring jobs. Some firms have been accused of wage theft, with estimates of underpayments reaching $95 million annually. Studies confirm that H-1B “entry-level” positions pay about 36 percent less than comparable American jobs.
Congressional amendments in 1998 worsened the problem. A loophole allowed companies to avoid recruiting Americans if they paid H-1B workers at least $60,000, far below average tech salaries, which often exceed $120,000. This provision provided legal cover for firms to replace domestic workers with cheaper foreign labor.
The consequences became especially visible during recent mass layoffs. In 2022 and early 2023, the top 30 H-1B employers hired 34,000 visa workers while laying off at least 85,000 employees. Some companies were approved for more than 5,000 H-1B hires in fiscal year 2025 even as they cut over 15,000 staff.
The program’s lottery system has also been manipulated. Nearly 409,000 registrations for fiscal year 2024 were duplicates, suggesting widespread gaming. Investigations found staffing firms filing multiple entries for the same applicant to boost their odds.
The Trump administration has extensively documented these abuses. The share of IT jobs in the H-1B program grew from 32 percent in 2003 to over 65 percent in recent years, with most top employers now IT outsourcing firms. What began as a program to address genuine labor shortages has evolved into what critics call an “outsourcing visa” that suppresses wages and displaces American workers.
Alongside the new H-1B restrictions, Trump also signed an order establishing the “gold card” visa. Costing $1 million, or $2 million if sponsored by a corporation, the gold card is framed as both a revenue source and a replacement for existing green card programs.
Administration officials argue that this measure, combined with the H-1B fee, will protect American workers and end the lottery system that had long governed visa allocations. Critics, however, predict legal challenges, calling the policy unconstitutional and akin to extortion.
Industries most reliant on H-1B workers—tech, finance, and healthcare, are expected to feel the sharpest impact. Companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Google employ thousands of visa workers and now face both higher costs and tighter restrictions.
The move highlights Trump’s goal of improving the lives of working-class Americans by ensuring jobs go to citizens first and driving up wages through the elimination of an endless supply of low-wage Indian workers.
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