The White House clarifies new H-1B visa regulations! The new fee of $100,000 is only for new applicants, existing holders are not affected.

The United States will implement a new H-1B visa application fee policy, causing a stir in the technology and finance industries. However, the White House quickly clarified that the new fees will only apply to future applications and will have no impact on those currently holding visas. This change not only concerns the future of tens of thousands of foreign professionals but also affects the global workforce deployment of large American companies.

( H-1B visa storm! Trump announces annual fee of 100,000 USD, Amazon and Microsoft urgently order employees to return to the US )

New fees are limited to new applications: White House urgent fire extinguishing

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt posted on X on Saturday that the upcoming $100,000 H-1B visa fee is a one-time charge that only applies to newly submitted applications and will not impose any cost burden on existing visa holders for re-entry. She emphasized, "This is not an annual fee, but a one-time cost for the application."

What is a petition?

The so-called "petition" refers to a request made by American companies to the immigration bureau for the purpose of bringing in professional talent from overseas. This means that the costs will be borne by the company when submitting a new hiring application, rather than being the annual fee that the visa holder has to bear personally.

Tech giants hit the brakes: internal notice to employees to suspend overseas travel.

At the first moment the new regulations were announced, due to unclear details, internal emails from several major companies including Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Amazon suggested their H-1B employees to "temporarily refrain from leaving the country" to avoid incurring new fees upon re-entering the U.S.

Reuters also reported that an internal memo from Goldman Sachs warned employees: "Exercise extreme caution with international travel."

Inconsistent with the statement of the Secretary of Commerce: The White House corrects the message.

The information about this policy was initially confusing. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said on Friday that the new fee would be "charged annually," but the White House issued a statement the next day to "correct the statement," confirming it as a "one-time application fee."

Purpose of the costs: Balance the labor market, protect American workers

The White House pointed out that this new fee of $100,000 aims to protect domestic workers from being "replaced by low-paid foreign talent" and to balance the competitive conditions of the U.S. labor market. The statement said: "This will increase the cost for companies to use the H-1B program to eliminate abuse."

In addition, President Trump also signed a presidential proclamation requiring the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security to work together to strengthen regulation, including audits, enforcement, and penalties. The proclamation also calls for a review of the salary standards and priority review conditions for H-1B to attract high-skilled, high-paid foreign talent.

Is India's IT industry the most affected?

The Indian IT industry association Nasscom has expressed concern over the new fee policy, believing that it will have a significant impact on Indian tech companies that rely on H-1B visas to send engineers to the United States.

A report released by the White House indicates that since the 2003 fiscal year, the proportion of H-1B visa holders in the US IT industry has increased from 32% to over 65%, which has sparked discussions about whether there is an over-reliance on foreign labor.

Special circumstances may be exempted: national interest as a prerequisite.

Although the new fees will broadly apply to future H-1B applications, the White House stated that certain applications may be exempt from the $100,000 fee if they meet "national interest" considerations. This exemption will be handled on a case-by-case basis, and the review criteria have not yet been clearly defined.

Community platform hot discussion: Visa holders rush back to the United States

As soon as the news of this policy came out, many H-1B visa holders shared their panicked stories of having "just landed abroad and hurriedly flying back to the U.S." on platforms including Xiaohongshu. Many comments indicated that people initially mistakenly believed they also had to pay a fee of 100,000 USD upon re-entry, leading many to change their tickets overnight and cancel their trips, creating a tense atmosphere.

Although the White House has clearly stated that the new fees will not affect existing visa and renewal applications, this policy may still be further adjusted based on subsequent executive orders and regulations. It is recommended that businesses and foreign employees continue to pay attention to official announcements to avoid unnecessary losses due to unclear information.

This article clarifies the new regulations for H-1B visas by the White House! The new fee of $100,000 is only for new applicants, existing holders are not affected. First appeared in Chain News ABMedia.