Trump proposes new H-1B visa process prioritising highly skilled workers

According to a Federal Register notice, the White House has proposed reshaping the H-1B visa selection process to favor more skilled and well-paid workers.

A $100, 000 visa fee was announced in a White House proclamation on Friday that was followed by the new proposal, which was released on Tuesday.

If the new procedure is finalized, employers who pay high wages would receive more weight in applications for visas if annual requests for the visas exceed the 85, 000-per-year cap, according to the notice. According to the statement, the action seeks to better shield US workers from unfair wage competition from foreigners.

After taking office in January, Donald Trump launched a comprehensive immigration crackdown, including a campaign to force mass deportations and attempting to halt undocumented immigrant children’s citizenship. His administration has recently put more emphasis on the H-1B program, which is well-known among technology companies and foreign outsourcing firms for hiring skilled foreign workers.

The H-1B visa program will require companies to pay $100, 000 annually, according to the administration’s announcement on Friday. Large tech companies issued a warning to visa holders to stay in the country or quickly return, causing a chaotic shuffle to return. Later, the White House made it clear that the fee would only apply to new visas.

Tech company stocks on Wall Street have not effectively responded to the looming changes. Over the past five days, shares of Amazon, which sponsors the most H-1B visas of any company, have fallen by almost 5%.

The proposed regulation, which was made public on Tuesday, would alter the lottery system’s current system to allow applicants to apply for visas if demand exceeds supply in a given year, creating wage levels that give candidates with higher-paying positions a better chance of being chosen.

It can take months or even years to complete a regulation. Prior to the registration period in March, according to the notice, the new regulations might be in place for the lottery in 2026.

According to the notice, the total wages for H-1B employees was projected to increase to $ 502 million starting on October 1 for the fiscal year 2026, citing estimates from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates.

Those wages would increase by $1bn in fiscal 2027, $1.5bn in fiscal 2028 and $2bn in fiscal 2029-2035, it said.

According to DHS, labor-loss would be a significant economic repercussion for an estimated 5,200 small businesses that currently receive H-1B visas.

Starting on Wednesday, the notice stated that US Citizenship and Immigration Services will provide the public with 30 days to comment.

Slowing the employment market

A new AP-NORC poll found that about six in ten US adults believe that immigrants’ entry into the workforce will have a significant impact, up from four in ten in March 2024, suggesting that the heightened requirements were suggested.

According to the poll, 51% of US adults believe that skilled laborers gain a “major” benefit from legal immigration.

The US economy is experiencing slow job growth as a result of the new proposal.

According to the most recent employment report from the Department of Labor, the economy added only 22, 000 jobs in August.