White House Issues Executive Order Scrutinizing H-1B Employers With Layoffs, Extends $100,000 Visa Fee

When the administration first introduced a $100,000 fee for certain H-1B visas in September 2025, the immediate focus was on the sheer cost of bringing international talent across the border. Now, a new executive order shifts that focus from the border to the boardroom, targeting the internal workforce decisions of the companies doing the hiring.

On September 18, President Trump signed two directives: one extending the controversial $100,000 fee through September 2027, and another requiring federal agencies to heavily scrutinize H-1B applications from employers who have recently laid off U.S. workers.[1][4]

The executive order, titled 'Enhancing Program Integrity and Interagency Coordination in the Administration of the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Program,' fundamentally changes the paperwork landscape for hiring managers and human resources departments. Rather than allowing immigration petitions to be processed in isolation, the directive forces a broad interagency approach.

It directs the Departments of State, Labor, and Homeland Security to coordinate closely with the Commerce and Education departments, as well as the Small Business Administration. Together, these agencies will cross-reference wage data, educational records, and industry trends to evaluate whether an H-1B filing is legitimate and whether it negatively impacts the domestic labor market.[3][4]

For professionals navigating the visa process, the most immediate shift lies in how corporate layoffs are treated during the adjudication process. Adjudicators must now explicitly consider whether a sponsoring employer has laid off similarly situated U.S. workers within the previous year, or if they plan to execute workforce reductions in the near future.

The scrutiny does not stop at new applications. The Department of Labor has been given a strict 30-day window to review previously submitted Labor Condition Applications, a move designed to determine if retroactive enforcement action is warranted against specific sponsors who may have displaced American staff.[3][4]

The White House frames the new measures as a necessary defense of the domestic labor market, pointing to stark numbers to justify the intervention. According to the administration's figures, technology sector employers requested hundreds of thousands of H-1B visas while collectively laying off between 800,000 and 1.3 million American employees from 2022 through 2026.

The administration also cited a significant disparity in compensation, estimating a wage gap that starts at $9,000 and reaches up to $20,000 between H-1B holders and comparable U.S.-born workers in industries heavily reliant on the visa program.[1][4]

Immigration attorneys, however, question the legal mechanics of enforcing the new layoff scrutiny, particularly for companies that do not rely exclusively on foreign talent. Cyrus Mehta, an immigration lawyer, noted that existing statutes only impose strict recruitment and layoff attestations on 'H-1B dependent' employers—defined legally as those with 15 percent or more of their U.S. workforce on the visa.

'The executive order cannot rewrite the statutory framework,' Mehta said. 'Any effort to deny petitions or impose sanctions solely because a non-dependent employer conducted layoffs would likely be in violation of the statute.'[1]

Alongside the executive order, a separate presidential proclamation extends the $100,000 payment requirement for certain new H-1B petitions until September 21, 2027. The fee, originally introduced in September 2025, primarily targets petitions for beneficiaries who are currently outside the United States and require a consular visa or port-of-entry admission to activate their approval. Extensions, amendments, or changes of status for foreign workers who are already residing and working in the U.S. remain exempt from the six-figure requirement, providing some relief for companies retaining their existing international staff.[1][2][4]

However, human resources teams budgeting for the year ahead do not need to write those $100,000 checks just yet, as the fee is not currently enforceable. In June 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated the agency policy implementing the payment, ruling that the administration had imposed an unauthorized tax. The government quickly appealed the decision, but in July 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit denied a motion to stay the district court's judgment, leaving the financial barrier suspended.[1][2][4]

While the legal battle continues to wind its way through the appellate courts, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has confirmed it will comply with the court order, meaning the fee is not owed at this time. Still, the extension of the proclamation is far from a purely symbolic gesture. It signals the administration's clear intent to reinstate the financial barrier immediately if the litigation eventually resolves in its favor, keeping employers on edge about future hiring costs.[2][4]

Despite the court's block on the fee, the administration points to the initial 2025 proclamation as a highly effective deterrent that has already reshaped the immigration landscape. The White House reported that H-1B registrations from the largest IT staffing and outsourcing companies plummeted from 24,946 to just 2,055—a massive 92 percent decrease. Additionally, consular-processing requests dropped by nearly 97 percent between the fiscal year 2025 and 2027 cap seasons, suggesting the mere threat of the fee altered corporate behavior.[4]

For companies planning their talent acquisition strategies, the current landscape requires meticulous documentation and a defensive posture. Immigration attorneys advise employers to audit their recent workforce reductions, validate foreign educational credentials thoroughly, and ensure that offered wages strictly comply with the requirements for the specific job location and duties. The next verifiable checkpoint will arrive in mid-October, when the Department of Labor concludes its initial 30-day review of existing labor applications and signals exactly how aggressively it plans to pursue enforcement.[3][4]