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The Trump administration tightened scrutiny of H-1B visa applications from employers that have recently laid off or plan to lay off similarly situated US workers, while renewing a $100,000 fee requirement for certain H-1B petitions.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order and a proclamation aimed at strengthening oversight of the H-1B programme, improving coordination among federal agencies and addressing what the administration calls abuses that displace American workers.
Under the executive order, the Secretaries of State, Labor and Homeland Security will consider employers’ recent or planned layoffs of similarly situated US workers when reviewing H-1B visa applications.
The three departments will also consult the Commerce and Education departments and the Small Business Administration for additional data to administer the programme, including information on wages, industrial conditions and employment specialization, the White House said.
Separately, the proclamation renews a $100,000 fee requirement for certain H-1B visa applications that was first imposed on September 19, 2025. The administration said the measure was intended to curb practices that displace US workers and undermine national security.
The White House said the 2025 measure had significantly reduced H-1B registrations by some of the largest IT outsourcing firms.
“Since the 2025 Proclamation took effect, H-1B registrations filed by the largest IT outsourcing firms have been reduced by 92%,” it said.
The administration also said the measure had resulted in a nearly 97% decline in consular processing requests and a shift from lower-paid foreign labor towards higher-skilled and higher-wage workers.
The White House has accused some employers of using lower-paid H-1B workers to replace US employees and put downward pressure on wages.
“Abuse of the H-1B visa program decreases wages for skilled American workers because the availability of cheaper foreign labor places downward pressure on domestic pay,” the US statement said.
The administration also alleged that some employers had laid off highly skilled American workers before hiring H-1B employees and that, under the outsourcing model used by some H-1B sponsors, jobs held by visa workers eventually move outside the United States.
The White House cited unemployment rates of 6.1% among recent computer science graduates and 7.5% among recent computer engineering graduates before the 2025 proclamation, saying the rates were more than double those among biology or art history graduates.
It also said the number of foreign STEM workers in the United States had more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, while overall STEM employment increased 44.5% during the same period. The share of IT workers with H-1B visas, it said, rose from 32% in fiscal 2003 to more than 65% in recent years before the 2025 proclamation.
The latest action builds on a December 2025 Department of Homeland Security rule that replaced the random H-1B lottery with a weighted selection system based on wage levels.
The White House said fiscal year 2027 was the first year in which H-1B selections were determined by wage rather than chance, with registrations falling by almost 40%.
The administration said it would continue investigations into H-1B fraud and other practices it says illegally favor visa holders over American workers.
The H-1B programme allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialized occupations, including technology, engineering and other skilled fields.
The latest measures come as the Trump administration seeks to increase scrutiny of the programme through closer coordination among federal agencies, greater consideration of employers’ layoffs and continued financial penalties for certain H-1B petitions.
