By Aditya Soni, Kristina Cooke and Nandita Bose

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump plans to impose a new $100,000 application fee for H-1B worker visas, a White House official said, potentially dealing a big blow to the technology sector that relies heavily on skilled workers from India and China.

As part of his broader immigration crackdown, the Republican president was expected to sign a proclamation as early as Friday restricting entry under the H-1B visa program unless the application fee is paid, the official said. 

Reuters was not immediately able to establish details of who the fee would apply to or how it would be administered.

The H-1B program has become a major flashpoint between Trump's conservative base and the tech industry that contributed millions of dollars to his presidential campaign.

Critics of the program, including many U.S. technology workers, argue that it allows firms to suppress wages and sideline Americans who could do the jobs. Supporters, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, say it brings in highly skilled workers essential to filling talent gaps and keeping firms competitive.

Adding new fees "creates disincentive to attract the world's smartest talent to the U.S.," said Deedy Das, partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, on X. "If the U.S. ceases to attract the best talent, it drastically reduces its ability to innovate and grow the economy."

The $100,000 fee could significantly push up costs for companies. While the new fees may not deter Big Tech, which routinely spends heavily to secure top talent, it could squeeze smaller tech firms and start-ups.

Roughly two-thirds of jobs secured through the program are computer-related, government figures show, but employers also use the visa to bring in engineers, educators and healthcare workers.

India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved beneficiaries, while China was a distant second at 11.7%, according to government data.

In the first half of 2025, Amazon.com ( AMZN ) had more than 10,000 H-1B visas approved, while Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Meta Platforms ( META ) had over 5,000 H-1B visa approvals each.

Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp ( CTSH ), an IT services company that relies extensively on H-1B visa holders, as well as U.S.-listed shares of Indian tech firms Infosys and Wipro, fell more than 2% each.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) declined to comment. The other companies, the Indian embassy in Washington, and the Chinese Consulate General in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN

Since taking office in January, Trump has kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown, including moves to limit some forms of legal immigration. The move to reshape the H-1B visa program represents his administration's most high-profile effort so far to rework temporary employment visas.

The H-1B program offers 65,000 visas annually to employers bringing in temporary foreign workers in specialized fields, with another 20,000 visas for workers with advanced degrees.

Under the current system, H-1B applicants pay a small fee to enter a lottery and, if selected, subsequent fees that can amount to several thousand dollars depending on the case. Nearly all the visa fees have to be paid by the employers. The H-1B visas are approved for a period of three to six years.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director of the American Immigration Council, questioned the legality of the proposed new fees. "Congress has only authorized the government to set fees to recover the cost of adjudicating an application," he said on Bluesky.

Last month, the U.S. launched a pilot program allowing consular officers to demand bonds of up to $15,000 for tourist and business visas from countries with high overstay rates or limited vetting data, a Federal Register notice said.

That followed Trump's June travel ban restricting entry from 19 nations, part of a broader hardline immigration push that has already deterred some visitors and driven down transatlantic airfares.

Trump's first-term administration issued several regulations that aimed to limit access to the visas and give them to higher-paying employers, but the regulations were blocked in federal court.