US administration’s new H-1B policies create uncertainty around post-study work rights
- A 19 September Presidential proclamation will see the employer fees for an H-1B work visa in the United States rise from under US$5,000 to US$100,000
- The move is expected to disrupt this key pathway to post-study work for foreign graduates in the US
- A majority of participants in the programme currently are STEM graduates from India
- The administration has also proposed a new rule that will see the H-1B process move from a lottery selection model to one that prioritises candidates with more advanced credentials and positions with higher salary levels
The H-1B programme is a key policy mechanism for international students in the United States. Aside from the heavily used Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme, the H-1B is the main pathway for foreign students to stay and work in the United States after graduation.
The current version of the H-1B was established in 1990 as a visa class for foreign nationals who come to the US to work in "specialty occupations." In practice, this has meant that the programme skews heavily to graduates from STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) or in other professional streams. As of 2023, for example, the majority of H-1B visas were issued for technology specialists, such as computer scientists or engineers.
As such, the programme has played a pivotal role in retaining highly skilled talent in the United States, and especially so for Chinese and Indian graduates over the years. This has in turn had a massive impact on technological advancement and innovation in the country. And it would not be overstating the case to say that the H-1B is a major factor in the attractiveness of the US for foreign students, as it provides the main pathway to long-term post-graduate work opportunities in the country. For many, it is also a stepping stone to a green card and permanent residency in the United States.
"Many of the workers who have received the [H-1B] visas are software engineers, computer programmers and others in the technology industry," says a recent report in the New York Times. "Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple and IBM were among the companies that employed the most H-1B visa holders last year, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services. But many do work in other professions, including education, health care and manufacturing…There is no cap for each country, and a vast majority — between about two-thirds and just over three-quarters — of recipients come from one: India."
The programme is employer-sponsored, which means that prospective employers must file a petition on behalf of an H-1B candidate. Aside from explicitly connecting a foreign graduate with a job opportunity in the US, the petition is meant to demonstrate the specialised skills and training required for the role.
The initial H-1B is valid for a period of three years, and can be extended up to a maximum of six years. Further extensions may be possible for visa holders pursuing permanent residency.
The programme operates with an annual cap of 65,000, and an additional 20,000 spaces for those with advanced degrees for a total annual allocation of 85,000 visas. The H-1Bs are awarded via a lottery system currently.
The cost for an H-1B visa ranges between roughly US$2,000 and US$5,000. Petitioning employers pay an initial registration fee of US$215 and then additional fees if their candidate is awarded a visa.
Scale of impact
A January 2025 analysis from public policy group FWD.us estimates that there are as many as 730,000 H-1B holders in the US this year, with an additional 550,000 accompanying dependants.
This means that the programme accounts for roughly 1.3 million US residents. FWD.us further estimates that, "H-1B holders and their spouses contribute US$86 billion annually to the US economy and pay approximately US$24 billion in federal and payroll taxes, as well as US$11 billion in state and local taxes each year. H-1B holders also contribute to their local economies; for example, H-1B holders own 300,000 homes and nearly 1 million vehicles."
The $100,000 question
On 19 September 2025, US President Donald Trump announced that petitioning employers would now be required to pay a US$100,000 fee in order to secure an H-1B visa.
The administration has since clarified that this fee applies to new applications only, specifically to those filed after 12:01 am ET on 21 September 2025.
President Trump's proclamation argues that the fee is necessary because the H-1B visa class "has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor. The large-scale replacement of American workers through systemic abuse of the program has undermined both our economic and national security."
The massive fee increase has stirred controversy and concern, both within the US and abroad. The general expectation is that many prospective US employers will opt not to pay the large fee, and that the H-1B path will be badly eroded as a result. Others have speculated that this will concentrate H-1B-supported talent even more heavily within the largest technology companies in the United States.
A report in Al Jazeera sets out that, "Trump’s move could lead to weaker economic growth in the US, experts have warned, since higher costs for employers will make it harder to retain foreign talent. It could also lead to a near-term 'brain drain', as skilled university graduates are forced to leave the US in favour of other countries." The report notes a number of other nations, including the UK and China, that are taking concrete measures to attract skilled talent.
Meanwhile, major technology employers in Silicon Valley urged H-1B holders not to travel outside the US until the implications of the new rule became more clear. This led to scenes like one widely circulated example from an Emirates flight in San Franciso. The flight had boarded and was about to take off for Dubai when the news of the H-1B policy broke, leading a number of Indian passengers to abruptly disembark rather than risk not be able to re-enter the country.
The move has also been widely covered in India, where the press reaction has been one of alarm and condemnation. "US President Donald Trump's newly announced H-1B visa fee hike has shattered so many Indians' dreams," said one report in The Times of India. The overarching theme of the coverage is that the link between study in the United States and the opportunity to stay and work in the country has been broken.
Writing on LinkedIn, Toronto-based immigration consultant Gautham Kolluri described the 19 September proclamation as, "[The] end of an era for the Silicon Valley, for the Indian Tech community, and a sad day for international students in the US."
India’s Ministry of External Affairs has weighed in as well, cautioning that the move could create “humanitarian consequences” by disrupting families.
More changes ahead
The President's 19 September proclamation alluded to further changes in the H-1B to follow, and the first of those emerged on 24 September when the Department of Homeland Security published a proposed rule setting out a new "Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions."
"Under the existing H-1B registration process, [DHS] runs the H-1B selection process to randomly select unique beneficiaries based on properly submitted electronic registrations," says the supporting information for the rule change. "DHS proposes to amend the process through which it selects registrations for unique beneficiaries to move away from a purely random selection process to a weighted selection process…Specifically, the proposal would weight registrations (or petitions) for selection generally based on each beneficiary's equivalent wage levels…Through the proposed regulatory revisions, DHS aims to implement the numerical cap in a way that incentivises employers to offer higher wages, or to petition for positions requiring higher skills and higher skilled aliens, that are commensurate with higher wage levels."
The proposed rule is now subject to a 30-day comment period, beginning on 24 September.
A possible legal challenge
It appears likely that the President's H-1B proclamation will be subjected to legal challenge. "Several immigrant advocacy groups and business groups have said that Trump's proclamation is illegal and that they could sue to block the order along with any regulations federal agencies adopt to implement it," says Reuters. The report continues, "Trump's order is unprecedented and it is unclear whether it is legally valid. Federal immigration law allows U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which processes visa applications, to collect fees, but only those necessary to cover the costs of administering the program. And some experts said that because the existing fee structure was authorized by Congress and is periodically tweaked by USCIS through formal regulations, it is unlikely the president has the power to separately impose additional fees."
Regardless of the outcome of any such legal challenge, the 19 September proclamation has signals the US administration's continued willingness to re-write the country's immigration policies as they pertain to foreign students. And it has for now placed a considerable measure of uncertainty in front of prospective and current students alike, especially those that were intending to pursue an H-1B after their studies.
For additional background, please see:
