$ 100,000 for visa
Trump panic US companies-and row back
Updated on September 20, 2025 – 9:29 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Suddenly $ 100,000 a year for a work visa? President Trump’s announcement has moved US companies in alarm. Now the Trump government is rowing back.
The high fee of $ 100,000 (around 85,000 euros) for certain working visas announced by the US government, according to a government agent, only applies to new applications. It was a once a fee raised when applying, a representative of the White House explained on Saturday. It does not apply to the renewal of existing visas or visa.
On the other hand, US Minister of Trade Howard Lutnick spoke of an annual fee when the new H-1b Visa regulation was announced. Especially in India, from where many technology specialists travel to the USA with such visas, and the announcement had triggered concern for US technology companies.
According to a report, many large companies urgently called on their foreign employees to stay in the United States. Employees with an H-1b visa that are currently out of the country should return to the USA within 24 hours, the “Business Insider” reported, citing employees and internal communication in the Tech Groups Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Bank JP Morgan.
The H-1b visa mainly uses large, internationally active US companies to hire qualified employees from abroad. According to government data cited from the “New York Times”, more than 10,000 people worked on an H-1b visa in the USA in June alone. It was about half as many with the groups Microsoft and Meta.
