WASHINGTON – President Donald J. Trump has signed a Proclamation introducing new restrictions on the H-1B visa program, aiming to curb what the administration describes as widespread abuse that undermines American workers and threatens national security.
Effective immediately, the Proclamation mandates that H-1B visa petitions for new applications be accompanied or supplemented by a $100,000 payment.
The restriction applies to nonimmigrant workers seeking to enter the United States for specialty occupations unless exempted on a case-by-case basis if determined to be in the national interest.
The Secretary of Homeland Security has been directed to deny approvals for petitions from individuals outside the US that are not accompanied by the required payment.
Employers must retain payment records, and the Departments of State and Homeland Security are tasked with verifying remittance and denying entry to individuals associated with unpaid petitions.
The Departments of Labor and Homeland Security are also instructed to issue joint guidance covering verification, enforcement, audits, and penalties for noncompliance.
The move is part of a broader push to prioritize high-skilled, high-paid workers in the H-1B program. The Department of Labor is being directed to revise prevailing wage levels, while Homeland Security is tasked with rulemaking to give preference to higher-earning H-1B applicants.
Administration officials argue that the H-1B program has increasingly displaced American workers, particularly in the tech sector, where the share of H-1B visa holders in IT roles has grown from 32% in 2003 to over 65% in recent years.
They cite high unemployment rates among recent American graduates in computer science and engineering, and point to examples of large corporations receiving thousands of H-1B approvals while laying off U.S. workers.
One company reportedly received over 5,000 H-1B approvals in FY 2025 while cutting 16,000 American jobs. Another received nearly 1,700 approvals while laying off 2,400 U.S. workers in Oregon. Other companies mentioned have laid off tens of thousands of U.S. workers while securing tens of thousands of H-1B approvals in recent years.
Some American IT workers have even been required to train their foreign replacements under nondisclosure agreements, further fueling criticism of the program.
The administration argues that these practices are discouraging American students from pursuing STEM careers, undermining the domestic talent pipeline, and posing long-term risks to national security.
President Trump stated that these new measures are intended to protect American jobs, raise wages, and restore fairness to the U.S. immigration and labor system.
