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Trump adds $100,000 fee for skilled worker visa applicants
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that will add a $100,000 (£74,000) annual fee for applicants to the H-1B visa programme for skilled foreign workers.
Trump’s order mentions “abuse” of the programme and will restrict entry unless payment is made.
Critics have long argued that H-1Bs undercut the American workforce, while supporters – including billionaire Elon Musk – argue it allows the US to attract top talent from around the world.
In another order, Trump set up a new “gold card” to fast-track visas for certain immigrants in exchange for fees starting at £1m.
Trump’s order is due to come into force on 21 September. It would only apply to new requests, but companies would have to pay the same amount for each applicant for six years, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.
“The company needs to decide… is the person valuable enough to have a $100,000-a-year payment to the government, or they should head home, and they should go hire an American,” he said, adding: “All of the big companies are on board.”
Since 2004, the number of H-1B applications has been capped at 85,000 per year.
Until now, H-1B visas have carried various administrative fees totaling around $1,500.
Data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shows that applications for H-1B visas for the next fiscal year fell to about 359,000 – a four-year low.
The greatest beneficiary of the programme the previous fiscal year was Amazon, followed by tech giants Tata, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google, according to government statistics.
Late on Friday, Amazon told employees with H-1B visas who were already in the US to remain there.
According to an internal advisory, seen by Business Insider, the company said those abroad should “try to return before tomorrow’s deadline if possible”.
Anyone unable to make it back before the order takes effect should avoid attempting US re-entry “until further guidance is provided”, the company is also quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, India’s leading trade body Nasscom said it was concerned by the edict – and that the one-day deadline created “considerable uncertainty for businesses, professionals, and students across the world”.
India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved applications, Reuters news agency reports, citing government data.
China was said to come in second at 11.7%.
Tahmina Watson, a founding attorney at Watson Immigration Law, told the BBC that the ruling could be a “nail in the coffin” for many of her clients that are mostly small businesses and start-ups.
“Almost everyone’s going to be priced out. This $100,000 as an entry point is going to have a devastating impact,” she added, noting that many small or medium-sized companies “will tell you they actually can’t find workers to do the job”.
“When employers sponsor foreign talent, more often than not, they’re doing that because they have not been able to fulfill those positions,” Ms Watson added.
Jorge Lopez, the chair of the immigration and global mobility practice group at Littler Mendelson PC, said a $100,000 fee “will put the brakes on American competitiveness in the tech sector and all industries”.
Some companies might consider setting up operations outside the US, though doing so can be challenging in practice, he added.
The debate over H-1Bs had previously caused splits within Trump’s team and supporters, pitting those in favour of the visas against critics such as former strategist Steve Bannon.
Trump told reporters at the White House in January that he understands “both sides of the argument” on H-1Bs.
The year before – while seeking to attract support from the tech industry while on the campaign trail – Trump vowed to make the process of attracting talent easier, going as far as to propose green cards for college graduates.
“You need a pool of people to work for companies,” he told the All-In Podcast. “You have to be able to recruit these people and keep these people.”
Early in his first term in 2017, Trump signed an executive order that increased scrutiny of H-1B applications, seeking to improve fraud detection.
Rejections rose to an all-time high of 24% in the 2018 fiscal year, compared to between 5% and 8% under Barack Obama and then between 2% and 4% under Joe Biden.
At the time, tech companies pushed back, criticising the Trump administration’s H-1B order.
[BBC]
With the objective of enhancing the living conditions of the agricultural community and increasing the contribution of the agricultural sector to the GDP, ‘Smallholder Agribusiness Partnerships Programme’ is being implemented with the financial contribution form the government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation is
implementing the program in collaboration with the Regional Development Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. All recoveries from loans provided under the program shall be directed to a revolving fund titled the “Sustainable Agricultural Fund”, which shall be utilized exclusively for the provision of
agricultural loans. Using the said fund, it is proposed to implement an agricultural loan scheme titled the “Sustainable Agriculture Programme” for individuals and institutions engaged in agriculture and related activities.
It is expected that an amount of Rs. 800 million from the funds available in the Sustainable Agriculture Fund will be allocated for the implementation of the Sustainable Agriculture Program in the year 2026.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal made by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to implement the “Sustainable Agriculture Program” loan scheme through the Participatory Finance Institution as an annual program from the year 2026.
The Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education has entered into agreements with Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation General Limited to execute the Suraksha Student Insurance programme which is implemented with the objective of facilitating to maintain student education activities of students who experience disturbances to education due to numerous health issues without any interruption.
From this, approximately 40 lacks of students educated in government schools, government approved private schools, Pirivena and assisted special schools are covered under health
insurance, accident coverage, and life insurance categories.
Considering the issues recognized when implementing this programme, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the particulars furnished by the Prime Minister in her capacity in the post of the Minister of Education, Higher Education and
Vocational Education that the ‘Suraksha’ Student Insurance Programme for the year 2025 / 2026 will be implemented including the following amendments and thereby actions will be taken to issue relevant circular instructions.
• Implementation of ‘Suraksha’ Student Insurance Programme until 31.08.2026 in relation to the year 2025 / 2026
• Amendment of the annual income of low income category considered at granting parent death benefit from rupees 180,000/- to rupees 240,000/-
• Granting benefit up to rupees 75,000/- for the Scoliosis Brace which is used for correcting distortion of the spinal code and Cochlea Equipment.
• Granting benefits up to rupees Rs. 20,000/- for students those who are taking medicine for longer periods for ailments in the category of critical illness category and another 07 identified ailments.
• Adding 05 more ailments as Pneumothorax, Encephalitis, Thalassemia, Hereditary Spherocytosis and Sickle Cell Anemia which are in the critical ailment category.
• From 01.09.2025, providing opportunity to handover the claim applications for obtaining benefits to any regional office of Sri Lanka Insurance General Limited.
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Establishment of Consultancy Boards for strengthening and promoting local production industries.
20 Consultancy Boards have been established by now covering the production industries field with the objective of minimizing the policy issues in industries and entrepreneurship development.
It has been recognized the requirement of establishing consultancy committees for another 07 special industry sectors that are not covered by the aforementioned consultancy committees.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the proposal furnished by the Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development to establish Consultancy Committees for the following industry sectors comprised of not
more than 25 members representing experts in the state institutions, commercial boards / assemblies, institutions (Universities and Research Institutions) and experts in the respective industries sector.
• Indigenous medicine and traditional / hereditary medical sector
• Confectionaries related production industries sector
• Traditional handicraft industries sector
• Chicken related industries sector
• Ornamental fish and sea weed related industries sector
• Creative craft related industries sector
• Event management sector
Implementation of the loan scheme, “Sustainable Agriculture Program”
Cabinet nod to implement ‘Suraksha’ Student Insurance Programme in the year 2025 / 26
Establishment of Consultancy Boards for strengthening and promoting local production industries.
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