The White House confirmed the one-year extension on Friday, keeping the $100,000 tag on employers seeking to bring foreign workers under the H-1B programme. Trump’s proclamation argues the fee has already slashed registrations by large IT outsourcing firms by 92 percent, effectively filtering out what he calls 'abused' applications. The order was set to expire this month but now runs into next year, deepening the uncertainty for India’s tech export economy.
"An extension of the 2025 Proclamation will continue to protect the economic and national security interests of the United States," Trump stated in the decree. He accused third-party placement groups of using the visa to undercut American wages, asserting that the measure ensures only "most highly-skilled and essential alien workers" enter the labor market. Critics, however, argue the fee is a punitive tax on global talent rather than a targeted security measure.
Legal friction is already mounting. A Boston-based appeals court is reviewing a June ruling that deemed the fee illegal, while another court examines a challenge filed by the US Chamber of Commerce. These judicial battles could unravel the policy regardless of the executive order's timeline. Meanwhile, major employers like Alphabet have begun shifting expansion plans to India, a structural response to the rising cost of US-based hiring.
For Indian IT professionals, the extension means continued volatility. The fee does not apply to students currently in the US or visa renewals, but new applicants face a financial barrier that few mid-sized firms can absorb. The next critical moment arrives as the federal courts issue their verdicts on the fee's constitutionality, which could reverse the policy entirely or cement it for years.