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Trump says skilled foreign workers take jobs away from Americans. It's not that simple, experts say

From PBS NewsHour · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Explainer Named sources New plan
  • The Trump administration has proposed a $103,265 fee for most new H-1B skilled-worker visa applications, targeting a program widely used by technology companies.
  • Experts say there is no evidence that H-1B workers broadly displace American workers, although the program's effects vary across companies and local labor markets.
  • Nearly 70% of H-1B visa holders are from India and 12% are from China; the program limits new visas to 85,000 annually, including 20,000 for graduates of U.S. universities.

The Trump administration wants to charge $103,265 for most new visas issued to skilled foreign workers, sharpening its campaign against the H-1B program that supports much of the U.S. technology industry.

The proposed Department of Homeland Security rule would cover applicants seeking H-1B visas, with exceptions for jobs at universities, hospitals and other nonprofit organizations, according to David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute. The administration previously tried to impose a $100,000 charge on U.S. companies for each new H-1B employee, but a federal judge struck down that order after finding that officials had exceeded their authority without congressional approval. The new proposal uses a different legal framework, Bier said.

DHS says the fee would raise money to cover immigration administration costs. The White House has also argued that employers have exploited the program to replace American workers with lower-paid employees and suppress wages. Experts told PBS NewsHour that those claims do not capture the full picture, saying there is no evidence that H-1B workers broadly take jobs from Americans.

deliberately exploited to replace

· White House officialsThe White House used the phrase to describe how it believes employers have used the H-1B program.

The visa holders are mainly technology workers. Nearly 70% come from India and another 12% from China, according to a 2025 fiscal-year report from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Amazon employed about 9,300 H-1B workers during the year, while Apple, Microsoft, Google, Meta and Oracle ranked among the program's 10 largest employers. H-1B workers earned a median annual income of $133,000, compared with median initial pay of $103,000.

The program allows foreign professionals in specialty occupations to work temporarily in the United States, generally for three years with a possible three-year extension. New visas are capped at 65,000 annually, plus 20,000 for people with a master's degree or higher from a U.S. university. Because demand exceeds the limit, applicants enter a lottery.

have abused the H-1B statute and its regulations to artificially suppress wages

· White House officialsOfficials cited the claim when criticizing employers' use of the visa program.
About this summary

Originally published by PBS NewsHour. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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