"Abuse Of H-1B Programme National Security Threat": Trump As He Hikes Visa Fees

US President Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump has labeled the abuse of the H-1B visa programme as a national security threat while signing a proclamation that significantly restricts non-immigrant worker entry and imposes a substantial annual fee of USD 100,000 on visas used by companies to employ foreign workers, including those from India, in the United States.

On Friday, Trump signed the proclamation 'Restriction on entry of certain nonimmigrant workers' that limits entry to the US for workers whose H-1B petitions do not include a payment of USD 100,000.

"The H-1B nonimmigrant visa programme was initially established to bring temporary workers into the United States for specialized, high-skilled positions, but it has been systematically exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, less-skilled labor," Trump stated in the proclamation.

"The misuse of the H-1B programme also presents a national security threat. Law enforcement agencies have identified and investigated H-1B-dependent outsourcing companies for visa fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and other illegal activities designed to facilitate foreign workers' entry into the United States," he continued in the document.

Trump emphasized the necessity of imposing higher costs on companies utilizing the H-1B programme to address these abuses while still allowing businesses to hire exceptional temporary foreign workers.

"The extensive damage that widespread abuse of this programme has inflicted on our economic and national security requires immediate action. I therefore conclude that the unrestricted entry of certain foreign workers into the United States would be detrimental to American interests by undermining American workers and depressing their wages," the proclamation declared.

Trump directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to restrict petition approvals that are not accompanied by a USD 100,000 payment for H-1B specialty occupation workers currently outside the United States. This restriction will remain in effect for 12 months following the proclamation's effective date of September 21, 2025.

Additionally, the Secretary of State must issue guidance to prevent misuse of B visas by beneficiaries of approved H-1B petitions with employment start dates before October 1, 2026.

The restrictions will not apply to individuals or those employed by companies or industries where such hiring is determined to serve the national interest without threatening American security or welfare.

The Department of Homeland Security and Department of State will coordinate efforts to implement this proclamation and deny entry to any H-1B nonimmigrant whose prospective employer has not made the required payment.

These entry restrictions will only apply to individuals entering or attempting to enter the United States after September 21, 2025.

Trump asserted that the widespread replacement of American workers through systematic abuse of the programme has undermined both the economic and national security of the United States.

"Some employers, following practices now common across entire sectors, have exploited H-1B regulations to artificially suppress wages, creating disadvantages for American citizens in the labor market while simultaneously making it harder to attract and retain the most highly skilled temporary workers, particularly affecting critical science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields," Trump stated.

The proclamation highlighted that information technology firms in particular have manipulated the H-1B system, significantly harming American workers in computer-related fields. It noted that the proportion of IT workers in the H-1B programme increased from 32 percent in Fiscal Year 2003 to over 65 percent on average in the past five fiscal years, with many of the most frequent H-1B employers now being IT outsourcing companies.

It stated that H-1B visa programme abuse has further complicated job searches for college graduates in the IT sector, enabling employers to hire foreign workers at considerably lower wages than American workers.

The proclamation referenced high unemployment rates among computer science and computer engineering graduates and noted that numerous American tech companies have laid off qualified, highly skilled American workers while simultaneously hiring thousands of H-1B workers.

The document cited a specific example of a software company that received approval for over 5,000 H-1B workers in FY 2025 while announcing layoffs affecting more than 15,000 employees during the same period.

It also mentioned that American IT workers have reported being forced to train the foreign workers replacing them and sign nondisclosure agreements about this "indignity" as a condition for receiving severance packages.