White House Calls $100K H-1B Fee Essential to Stop System Abuse

The Trump administration has staunchly defended its imposition of a $100,000 annual fee on new H-1B visa applications, describing it as a vital measure to curb systemic abuses and prioritise American workers in the high-skilled labour market. In an exclusive response to Indo-Asian News Service, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers emphasised that the fee represents a "significant first step to stop abuses of the system and ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labour."

Introduced via presidential proclamation in September 2025 and effective for petitions filed after September 21, the fee applies to employers sponsoring foreign professionals in speciality occupations, such as software engineering and data science, aiming to deter outsourcing firms from flooding the program with lower-wage hires. Rogers noted that President Donald Trump has "done more than any president in modern history to tighten our immigration laws and put American workers first," aligning the policy with broader efforts to reform temporary work visas amid concerns over wage suppression and job displacement.

Complementing the fee, the Department of Labour launched "Project Firewall" in September 2025 as a proactive enforcement initiative to scrutinise companies suspected of H-1B misuse, including failing to pay prevailing wages or prioritising foreign talent over qualified U.S. applicants. Rogers highlighted the programme's role in "restoring accountability in the H-1B process", ensuring visas are reserved for "the highest-skilled foreign workers in speciality occupations and not low-wage workers that will displace Americans".

Led by the Wage and Hour Division in coordination with agencies like the Department of Justice and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Project Firewall empowers the labour secretary to certify investigations based on "reasonable cause," potentially resulting in back-wage recoveries, civil fines, or debarment from future sponsorships. Early actions include over 175 probes into potential abuses, targeting firms with high volumes of approvals, such as Amazon and Microsoft, which sponsored thousands of H-1B workers in fiscal 2025.

The policy has ignited fierce debate within conservative circles and beyond. Trump himself defended the H-1B programme in a recent Fox News interview, insisting the U.S. must "bring in talent" for specialised roles like missile manufacturing, countering host Laura Ingraham's assertion of ample domestic expertise by stating, "You don't have certain talents." This nuance contrasts with hardline Republicans like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has vowed to introduce legislation banning H-1B visas across all sectors except medicine, arguing it would alleviate housing shortages and boost American employment. Greene's stance echoes longstanding criticisms from figures like Senator Bernie Sanders, who have accused the programme of enabling corporate exploitation, though her proposal has drawn rebukes from immigration advocates for potentially crippling innovation in tech and healthcare.

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Immigration experts warn that such restrictions could have severe unintended consequences. Sarah Pierce, Director of Social Policy at the centrist think tank Third Way, described Greene's bill as "one of the most efficient ways to hurt Americans," predicting it would "gut access to care overnight" by slashing foreign medical professionals—many on H-1B visas—exacerbating shortages in rural and underserved areas. India, which accounted for 71% of H-1B approvals in 2024, stands to be hit hardest, with over 300,000 Indian nationals currently holding the visa. Tech giants like Google and Meta have lobbied against the fee, warning of talent flight and stalled R&D, while labour unions praise it as a long-overdue check on "body shops" that game the lottery system.

The H-1B program, capped at 85,000 visas annually (65,000 general plus 20,000 for advanced-degree holders), has long been a flashpoint in U.S. immigration debates, fuelling economic growth through skilled inflows while sparking fears of offshoring. Trump's reforms build on his first-term restrictions, which courts partially blocked, and come amid a 5% rise in U.S. tech unemployment in 2025. As enforcement ramps up, employers face heightened compliance burdens, including mandatory wage audits and data sharing across federal agencies.

With midterm elections looming, the administration's "America First" immigration pivot tests Republican unity, balancing protectionism against global competitiveness. While Rogers touted the measures as safeguarding "our most valuable resource: the American worker", critics argue they risk isolating the U.S. talent pool at a time when AI and semiconductor advancements demand international collaboration. The coming months will reveal whether Project Firewall yields tangible protections or merely bureaucratic hurdles in the visa pipeline.

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