New H-1B visa fee of $100,000 is only applicable for new applicants: US official

“Those who are visiting or leaving the country, or visiting India, they don’t need to rush back before Sunday or pay the $100,000 fee. $100,000 is only for new and not current existing holders,” a senior US administration official told ANI news agency.

US President Donald Trump has signed a petition that will impose an annual $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas.

This move is likely to impact a large number of Indian tech workers, who constitute a major portion of the beneficiaries.

“We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that that’s what’s going to happen,” Trump said from the Oval Office as quoted by CNN.

In a statement issued sharing details about the proclamation, White House said: "The H-1B nonimmigrant visa program was created to bring temporary workers into the United States to perform additive, high-skilled functions, but it has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labour."

The White House said the large-scale replacement of American workers through 'systemic abuse' of the program has undermined both our economic and national security.  

  The statement pointed out that Information technology (IT) firms, in particular, have prominently manipulated the H-1B system, significantly harming American workers in computer-related fields.  

"The share of IT workers in the H-1B program grew from 32 percent in Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 to an average of over 65 percent in the last 5 fiscal years," reads the statement.

The White House said the abuse of the H-1B program is posing a national security threat.

What is H-1B visa?

As per the US Department of Labor website, the H-1B program applies to employers seeking to hire non-immigrant aliens as workers in speciality occupations or as fashion models of distinguished merit and ability.

"The intent of the H-1B provisions is to help employers who cannot otherwise obtain needed business skills and abilities from the U.S. workforce by authorizing the temporary employment of qualified individuals who are not otherwise authorized to work in the United States,"  reads the website.