The travel bar and fee requirement will be applicable to any H-1B holder visiting the US after 12:01 am EDT (9:30 am IST) on Sunday (September 21). New H-1B and H-1B extensions must pay USD 100,000 to be processed and USD 100,000 per year every year thereafter to maintain them, the proclamation said.
"The proclamation allows the Department of Homeland Security to grant exceptions to the ban for individual foreign nationals, foreign nationals working for a particular company, or foreign nationals working in a specific industry, if, in the agency's discretion, H-1B employment is found to be in the national interest and does not pose a threat to US security or welfare," it said.
The restriction will be on for 12 months “but may be extended on the recommendation of the federal immigration agencies. An extension would keep the ban in place for foreign nationals for whom a FY 2027 H-1B cap petition was approved.”
As per the Trump administration companies will have to to pay USD 100,000 every year "for H-1B worker visas, prompting some Big Tech companies to warn visa holders to stay in the US or quickly return. The staggering annual fee was announced to check the "systemic abuse" of the H1-B programme."
Under the US President's new executive order, companies hiring skilled foreign workers will now have to pay USD 100,000 annually for each H-1B visa, a sharp jump from the earlier USD 1,500 in administrative fees.
The latest data states US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Indians accounted for 72 per cent of the nearly 4 lakh H-1B visas issued between October 2022 and September 2023.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick added that the visa would cost USD 100,000 a year for each of the three years of its duration, but that the details were "still being considered".
Eminent New York-based immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta answered the H-1B holders still in India may have already missed the deadline as there is no way a direct flight from India will get there in time.
"H-1B visa holders who are out of the US on business or vacation will get stranded unless they get in before midnight September 21. H-1Bs still in India may have already missed the deadline as there is no way a direct flight from India will get in time," he wrote on X.
