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President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation imposing severe restrictions on H-1B specialty occupation workers, requiring employers to pay a $100,000 fee per petition with limited national-interest exemptions. This dramatic escalation in visa costs represents a fundamental shift in skilled immigration policy, effectively pricing out most employers except large corporations.
The $100,000 fee requirement—a massive increase from previous H-1B petition costs of several thousand dollars—threatens to devastate technology companies, healthcare providers, and educational institutions that rely on highly skilled foreign workers. The proclamation provides only narrow national-interest exemptions, giving the administration broad discretion to deny access to critical talent pools.
This policy demonstrates how executive power can be wielded to fundamentally reshape immigration systems without congressional approval, using fee structures as de facto prohibitions on legal immigration pathways while simultaneously monetizing visa access through the Gold Card program for wealthy individuals.