US President Donald Trump further extended the implementation of H-1B visa fees.
According to the previous order of the Trump administration, American employers who want to employ foreign skilled workers in the US can get permission to work in the US for a few years by paying a fee of 100,000 US dollars under the H1B visa program.
Now the US President has extended this executive order for another year.
The US president, who has taken strict measures against immigration, has been under criticism because of the said program.
They want to permanently raise the visa fee from the current range of $2,000 to $5,000 to at least $100,000, but the effort faces legal challenges.
A Boston-based court is reviewing a ruling by a federal judge in June.
The said judge had declared the additional fees imposed by the Trump administration as illegal and barred the government from collecting them.
A second court is also reviewing whether a judge made the right decision in denying the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s request to challenge the fees.
The American Chamber of Commerce is the nation’s largest business lobbying group.
Trump’s initial executive order to increase the fees, which was first issued in September 2025, was set to expire this month.
The order did not apply to visas issued to foreign nationals who were already in the U.S. on student visas and make up a large portion of new H1B visa applicants.Renewals of existing visas were also exempt from the additional fee.
Although the program has been criticized because some companies use these visas to hire low-wage foreign workers instead of U.S. citizens, business groups and companies say the program helps recruit highly skilled professionals and fill shortages of skilled U.S. workers in certain industries.
Congress introduced the visa program in the 1990s and it is especially important for technology companies, which recruit skilled workers from India and China.
Changes in the way prospective visa applicants are screened and applications processed have affected companies’ plans to recruit and expand business.
Some of the major users of H1B visas, such as Google’s parent company AlphaBet, have taken steps to expand their operations in India.