NEW YORK — The Trump administration has decided to push ahead with raising the fee for so-called professional visas to more than 140 million won ($103,000), 20 to 50 times the current level, despite courts ruling the move unlawful. The burden will grow heavier for Korean companies that must send high-skilled workers to the United States alongside their investments there.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a new rule in the Federal Register imposing a $103,265 (about 143 million won) charge on applicants for the H-1B visa, commonly known as the professional visa, according to Reuters and The Wall Street Journal on the 24th. That far exceeds the current $2,000 to $5,000 (about 2.75 million to 7 million won). The department also expanded the fee to applicants inside the United States, beyond the overseas applicants who paid it previously. The new fee applies to most new applicants but may not apply to those renewing visas or to foreigners hired by hospitals and universities, which have difficulty securing staff.
The H-1B visa is issued for specialized occupations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Only 85,000 are issued each year through a lottery. It permits an initial three-year stay that can be extended, and holders can also apply for permanent residency. According to a report submitted to the U.S. Congress by the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), of the 399,395 professional workers whose H-1B petitions were approved in fiscal 2024 (Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024), Indian nationals were the most numerous at 283,397, or 71.0%. By nationality, India was followed by China at 11.7% (46,680), the Philippines at 1.3% (5,248), Canada at 1.1% (4,222) and South Korea at 1.0% (3,983).
The Trump administration's move is seen as a way to underscore a tough immigration crackdown to its base ahead of the November midterm elections. It is also read as aimed at easing at least part of the chronic budget deficit, given the surging federal debt. Homeland Security projected that the H-1B visa fee could generate $8.8 billion (12 trillion won) in revenue, saying it would use the money to fund related agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
President Trump had already issued a proclamation last September setting the H-1B application fee at $100,000. The department's rule came a month before the proclamation's one-year term expires. The rule is expected to be finalized around year-end after a 30-day comment period.
The fee, however, has recently been blocked repeatedly by U.S. federal courts and appears likely to face further legal battles. A federal court in Massachusetts also ruled in June that the fee was unlawful because it amounted to an illegal tax that had not been approved by Congress.
The fee could also meet resistance from big technology companies and Wall Street firms that rely on high-skilled foreign workers. Indeed, immediately after Trump's proclamation last September, companies including Microsoft (MSFT), JPMorgan, Amazon, Google, Ernst & Young and Walmart urged employees holding H-1B visas to avoid overseas travel and to return immediately if they were outside the United States. Some raised concerns that more Indian and Chinese high-skilled workers who give up on obtaining H-1B visas could take jobs in competitors of the United States, such as China.
The Trump administration also decided to revoke, within weeks, the visas of up to 200,000 foreigners who have entered the United States and applied for asylum or are preparing to do so, according to The Associated Press. Those affected entered on business (B1) and tourist (B2) visas issued from 2016 through this year. Foreigners seeking B1 or B2 visas going forward will also have to prove they intend to return to their home countries rather than apply for asylum after entering the United States.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said on X, formerly Twitter, that people in the United States and around the world are tired of fraudulent asylum claims. He noted that asylum is meant to provide a limited safe harbor for those persecuted on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion, but that applicants work, have children and put down roots in the United States during the years it takes to determine their eligibility.
