President Trump's H1B Visa Restrictions: Analysis of Their Impact and Legality

Strategic Insights -

President Trump's move to impose a $100,000 fee on H1B visas would effectively end the category, forcing leading technology companies out of the United States and reducing demand for US workers. This has severe second-order economic effects and lowers the supply of goods and services in various sectors. The action is also at odds with the president's previous statements on the H1B visa program, which he claimed to support.

Key Takeaways:

  • The proposed $100,000 fee for H1B visas would be in addition to the salary, lawyer fees, and other costs of hiring an H1B worker, making it prohibitive for most businesses to hire H1B workers.
  • The fee imposition is established by regulation and would require a notice and comment rulemaking, not a presidential proclamation, to be valid.
  • The only basis for the government to issue fees is to recover costs of adjudicating applications, which the $100,000 fee for H1B visas does not.
  • The proposal also includes mandating an increase in the prevailing wage for H1B workers, which would prevent even the most highly skilled workers from being hired due to the wage increase.
  • The specified plan for undermining the H1B visa contradicts President Trump's previous remarks on the visa program.
  • The Department of Labor's previous attempt to issue a regulation for the prevailing wage in 2020 contained many factual and legal errors and was ultimately blocked.

Statistics:

  • The H1B visa program is the primary visa for skilled foreign workers, with leading technology companies relying heavily on it.
  • Since 2009, the industry with the most H1B visa approvals has been the computer and information systems design and related services industry, accounting for 26.1% of all H1B visa approvals, followed by the management of companies and enterprising and manufacturing industries, which have accounted for approximately 17% on average each year. (Source: [SSTI.org](https://ssti.org/blog/useful-stats-look-h-1b-visa-program-industry-employer-and-state#:~:text=Since%202009%2C%20the%20industry%20with,approvals%20each%20year%20on%20average.))
  • In 2020, the pandemic-induced economic crisis led to an executive order suspending entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants who present a risk to the US labor market, but a court found the action to be illegal and the authority did not exist for the president to rewrite US immigration law.

Sources:

  • [1] Cato Institute's David Bier: "President Trump is imposing a $100,000 fee to obtain an H1B visa, the primary visa for skilled foreign workers." ([https://www.cato.org/people/david-bier](https://www.cato.org/people/david-bier))
  • [2] White House Presidential Action: "Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers" (2025/09)
  • [3] National Bureau of Economic Research: "The Impact of H1B Visas on US Technology Adoption and FDI" (NBER Paper w27538)
  • [4] University of Chicago: "H1B Visas and the Labor Market" (Journal of Law & Economics, 10.1086/679061)
  • [5] NBER Working Paper: "US Immigration Policy and the Global Competitiveness of the US Economy" (NBER WP15768)
  • [6] Cato Institute's commentary: "Public Comments on US Citizenship and Immigration Services Fee Schedule Changes" ([https://www.cato.org/public-comments/public-comments-re-us-citizenship-immigration-services-fee-schedule-changes-certain](https://www.cato.org/public-comments/public-comments-re-us-citizenship-immigration-services-fee-schedule-changes-certain))
  • [7] Federal Register: "Suspension of Entry of Immigrants and Nonimmigrants Who Present a Risk to the United States Labor Market" (2020/06/25)
  • [8] US Chamber of Commerce Order: "Order Granting Motion for Preliminary Injunction - NAM v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security" (2020)
  • [9] Cato Institute's commentary: "DOLs H1B Wage Rule Massively Understates Wage Increases - By a Lot" ([https://www.cato.org/blog/dols-h-1b-wage-rule-massively-understates-wage-increases-26](https://www.cato.org/blog/dols-h-1b-wage-rule-massively-understates-wage-increases-26))
  • [10] US Chamber of Commerce Order: "Order Granting Summary Judgment - U.S. Chamber v. DHS" (2020)
  • [11] CNN transcript: "President Trump Says He's Always Liked H1B Visas, But Now He Wants to Limit Them" (2024/12/31)