The White House moved Friday to defend American workers from unfair competition by foreign labor. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applicants, a program long criticized for displacing U.S. workers. The order ensures that companies can only bring in foreign employees if they are truly exceptional and worth the steep cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A senior White House official explained the decision, noting that the fee will raise the bar for participation in the program. \u201cThis will make sure the people they\u2019re bringing in are actually very highly skilled, not easily replaceable by American workers,\u201d the official said. \u201cIt protects Americans while allowing companies to hire extraordinary talent when necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The H-1B visa program, created in 1990, has become the largest pathway for foreign nationals seeking highly skilled jobs in the U.S. These visa holders often transition to permanent residency, granting them indefinite stays. Every year, demand far outstrips the 85,000 visas available, leading to a lottery system. While popular with major corporations, the program has drawn sharp criticism for undermining wages and opportunities for American citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick echoed the administration\u2019s stance at the White House. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to train somebody, train one of the recent graduates from one of our great universities,\u201d he said. \u201cStop bringing in people to take our jobs. That\u2019s the policy here.\u201d The message reflects the administration\u2019s priority of putting American workers first, especially at a time when many U.S. graduates struggle to find good-paying positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troubling numbers reinforce the criticism. Between 2022 and 2024, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft laid off tens of thousands of American employees while securing more than 61,000 H-1B visas combined. As Eric Ruark of NumbersUSA pointed out, \u201cThe H-1B program is designed specifically to allow employers to replace and displace qualified American workers with cheaper, often less competent foreign guest workers.\u201d Trump\u2019s action seeks to end this imbalance and restore fairness to the labor market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The White House moved Friday to defend American workers from unfair competition by foreign labor. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applicants, a program long criticized for displacing U.S. workers. The order ensures that companies can only bring in foreign employees if they are truly exceptional and worth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":264726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[804,805,512],"tags":[12346,460],"class_list":["post-264725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-foreground","category-politics","tag-immigration","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\n