Trump renews $100,000 H-1B fee, orders scrutiny of layoffs

President Donald Trump has renewed a $100,000 fee for certain H-1B visa applications and ordered federal agencies to scrutinise employers’ recent and planned layoffs. The measures also expand inter-agency checks and follow changes to the H-1B selection system.

Washington: President Donald Trump has renewed a $100,000 fee for certain H-1B visa applications and ordered closer scrutiny of employers that lay off American workers, according to a White House fact sheet and an executive order.

The measures combine the fee renewal with new checks on sponsoring employers’ employment practices. Agencies must consider recent and planned layoffs when assessing applications under the skilled-worker visa programme.

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The executive order directs the secretaries of state, labour and homeland security to consider whether employers directly or indirectly carried out layoffs during the previous year, or plan future cuts affecting similarly situated US workers.

That requirement covers labour condition applications, petitions, visas and entry into the United States. The order does not prescribe automatic rejection solely because an employer has announced layoffs.

“I have determined that continued efforts must be made to protect and prioritize the American workforce,” Trump said in the order.

The White House said a separate proclamation renewed the $100,000 fee requirement first imposed on September 19, 2025. Its fact sheet described the charge as applying to certain H-1B applications. It did not specify the renewal’s duration or detail exemptions.

The order also sets a 30-day deadline for the labour secretary, acting through the Wage and Hour Division, to begin reviewing data from previously submitted labour condition applications. The review will determine whether further action against sponsoring employers is warranted.

Those checks will be supported by wider coordination across federal agencies.

The departments of state, labour and homeland security must consult the commerce and education departments and the Small Business Administration when processing H-1B cases. Those agencies will supply relevant wage, employment, academic, industrial and other economic information to help assess compliance with statutory requirements.

The administration presented the measures as a response to alleged displacement of American workers and misuse of the programme by some employers and outsourcing firms.

The order alleged that technology employers had collectively sought H-1B visas for hundreds of thousands of workers while laying off between 800,000 and 1.3 million American employees from 2022 through 2026.

It also alleged that some employers misrepresented job duties, working conditions or applicants’ qualifications. Neither the order nor the fact sheet included responses from employers or outsourcing firms to those allegations.

The White House said registrations submitted by the largest information technology outsourcing firms had fallen 92 per cent since the 2025 proclamation took effect. It also reported a nearly 97 per cent decline in consular processing requests.

The latest measures follow changes outlined in the White House fact sheet, including a December 2025 Department of Homeland Security rule replacing random selection with a system weighted by wage level. According to the fact sheet, fiscal year 2027 marked its first use, and registrations dropped by almost 40 per cent.