Trump administration plans $100,000 visa fee for high-skill foreign workers

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is planning to drastically increase the fee for hiring high-skilled foreign workers within the United States to $100,000, according to a preview of a proposed rule published Monday. 

The administration noted in the Federal Register that it plans to use the fee to “serve as a dedicated revenue mechanism to help recover a portion of the federal government’s costs of administering the lawful immigration system, including activities carried out by DHS” and the departments of Justice, State and Labor.

Currently, it costs anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 for an employer to hire a highly skilled foreign worker through the H-1B visa program. Congress created the program in the 1990s and visas are capped annually at 65,000, with an additional 20,000 for foreign workers who graduate with a masters or doctoral degree from a U.S. institution.

A federal judge in June struck down the Trump administration’s attempt to increase the H-1B visa to $100,000 for foreign workers hired outside the U.S. 

Workers on a temporary H-1B visa work in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine or education.  

Employers use the H-1B program to hire foreign workers who have a minimum of a bachelor's degree for up to three years, but the temporary visa can be extended for up to six.  

Last year, the Trump administration imposed a one-time $100,000 H-1B visa fee to employers in an effort to prevent high-skill jobs going to foreigners instead of U.S. citizens. However, the program is used to fill high-skill jobs that are difficult to fill with American workers.