Trump H-1B Visa Tech Foreign Governments

The main technology companies and foreign governments are in a hurry to respond after the President Donald Trump Late Friday has announced plans for Imposing a fee of $ 100,000 on H-1B visasThreatening to abandon the program that underlies America’s technological workforce.

The fee will apply to new H-1B candidates, not to renewal or current visa owners, according to a White House employee. It will first apply to the upcoming lottery cycle and does not apply to the winners of the 2025 lottery, the man said. The White House also clarified that the new $ 100,000 fee is not an annual fee, as reported earlier than several media outlets.

This move can strike a huge blow to companies – mainly in the technological and financial sector – which rely to a large extent on highly qualified immigrants, especially from India and China.

The message sent shock waves through some of the largest technological and financial companies in the country:

• Amazon’s The immigration team advises its owners of visas H-1B and H-4 to stay in the United States and those abroad to return before 12:01 pm ET on September 21, according to internal messages viewed by CNBC.

• JPMORGAN Chase’s The law firm has sent a note that wants H-1B visa owners to stay in the US and avoid international trips to further guidance, according to a person familiar with the question.

• Goldman Sachs Employees who hold visas for H-1B to be cautious when traveling internationally based on directions from the Fragomen Immigration Services Company, according to an internal note observed by Reuters.

• Microsoft It also reports that visa owners for H-1B to stay in the US and to return to those abroad, warning that international trips can endanger their immigration status, according to the emails observed by Reuters.

The fee is the most aggressive course of the administration, which does not yet limit legal immigration. Since taking office in January, Trump has advanced a broad repression of both the illegal and legal entry into the United States, but the Friday message notes the most significant attempt to activate employment visas.

Amazon hired the most owners of the H-1B more than 14,000 by the end of June. Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google had over 4000 such visas each, among the first 10 recipients for the fiscal 2025.

CNBC has addressed all public companies in the recipient list of the top 10 H-1B for comment. The White House did not immediately reply to an email asking for a comment.

“President Trump has promised to put US workers in the first place, and this healthy action is doing just that by discouraging companies to spam the system and reduce salaries,” Taylor Rogers, a spokesman for the White House, told CNBC. “He also gives security to American business, who actually want to bring highly qualified workers to our great country, but have been trapped in abuse of the system.”

“Humanitarian consequences”

The announcement also violated the status quo abroad, where foreign governments were confronted to evaluate the impact of the new rules on their countries.

The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was studying visa limitations and their consequences, emphasizing that both the Indian and American industry shared an interest in maintaining competitiveness in innovation. He also emphasized the likely interruption of individual families.

“This measure will probably have humanitarian consequences by interruption caused by families.

South Korea Foreign Ministry also said it assesses the consequences for Korean companies and qualified workers.

Below is a list of search for the top 100 US companies that were recipients of H1-B during the 2025 fiscal 2025.

– CNBC Annie Palmer contributed to this report.