Trump to impose $100,000 H-1B visa fee via proclamation

President Donald Trump plans to impose a $100,000 application fee on H-1B visas, a White House official said, in a move the administration could formalize as soon as Friday through a presidential proclamation. The change would require the hefty payment for entry under the H-1B program and is intended to curb what officials describe as overuse and abuse of the system that admits skilled foreign workers for U.S. jobs in technology, engineering, medicine and other fields.

Details about how the fee will be applied remain incomplete. Bloomberg and other outlets reported that the proclamation would bar H-1B entry unless accompanied by the $100,000 payment, but officials have not clarified whether that amount would replace or be added to existing application costs. Current reporting cites several existing fees tied to H-1B processing, including a $215 registration fee for the lottery and a $780 Form I-129 petition filing charge, while other reports put total current costs between roughly $1,700 and $4,500 depending on circumstances.

Administration officials say the steep fee is designed to discourage companies from exploiting the lottery and using H-1B visas to hire lower paid foreign...