Overview

• President Trump signed the order on Sept. 19, raising the annual H‑1B application fee to $100,000 from prior charges in the low thousands.
• Trump said companies that do not want to pay should hire Americans, and Commerce Secretary Latnick argued the U.S. should stop accepting workers who take jobs.
• U.S. media report the IT industry could face significant disruption given its heavy reliance on workers from India and China.
• Reuters reports Alphabet asked employees on H‑1B visas to avoid international travel as the company assesses the policy change.
• The H‑1B program covers temporary skilled roles for up to six years and saw about 400,000 approvals in fiscal 2024, while initial reports did not detail the enforcement timeline.