H-1B: From Gateway to Gatekeeper
A visa once meant to fuel America’s growth is now a tollbooth that strangles the very talent it was built to attract
Friday, September 20, 2025
At 11:59 PM tonight, the American Dream gets a price tag: $100,000 per year. Non-refundable, no exceptions unless you know the right people.
Yesterday, President Trump signed a proclamation that reads like something out of a dystopian satire. With less than 48 hours' notice, he transformed the H-1B visa program from a bureaucratic lottery into what can only be described as an executive shakedown. The new annual fee doesn't just adjust for inflation or administrative costs. It multiplies the previous fee by roughly 465x, from $215 to $100,000.
And here's where it gets surreal: in the same breath, the administration unveiled the Trump Gold Card, a $1 million fast-track to U.S. residency. For the ultra-wealthy, there's a Trump Platinum Card at $5 million that lets you live in America most of the year without paying U.S. taxes on foreign income.
Yes, you read that correctly. The president's name is literally on the visa.
Within hours of the announcement, Microsoft, Amazon, and JPMorgan Chase sent frantic internal memos to their employees abroad: get back to the United States now, before midnight Saturday. Cancel honeymoons. Cut short visits to dying parents. Just get on a plane.
They were warnings that if workers missed the deadline, they might never return. Many of these people have lived in America for years, own homes here, have American-born children.
The proclamation was so poorly written that even officials couldn't explain it. Did the $100,000 fee apply to everyone with an H-1B trying to enter? Only new applicants? What about those already living here but abroad on travel?
For nearly 24 hours, nobody knew. Immigration lawyers described the scene as pandemonium.
Finally, late Friday, senior officials offered a clarification: the fee would apply only to new H-1B applications, not existing visa holders returning from trips. By then, thousands of families had already spent fortunes on last-minute flights, cut short funerals, abandoned weddings.
Let's be clear about what's happening. The president is claiming authority under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which lets him suspend entry of aliens he deems detrimental to U.S. interests.
This is the same authority used for the 2017 travel ban. But there's a crucial difference. That ban actually banned people. This proclamation doesn't ban anyone; it charges them six figures for the privilege of entry.
Constitutional scholars are nearly unanimous: the president has no authority to impose taxes. That belongs to Congress. It's right there in Article I of the Constitution.
The administration knows this won't survive legal scrutiny.
Amazon alone had 10,044 H-1B workers approved last year. At $100,000 per visa, that's a new annual expense of $1+ billion. Microsoft: $519 million. Meta: $512 million. Google: $418 million.
For Big Tech, it's a massive hit but survivable. They'll sue, they'll maneuver, and if necessary, they'll absorb it.
But what about everyone else?
Universities rely on H-1Bs for professors and researchers. Hospitals use them for specialized doctors. Small startups need them to compete for talent. None of these institutions can casually tack on six figures to every hire. A small biotech recruiting a brilliant researcher from India? Forget it. A rural hospital trying to bring in a specialist? Not happening. A university hoping to keep a young professor? Good luck.
The administration claims this is about protecting American workers from cheap foreign labor. They cite the $60,000 salary loophole. But the median H-1B salary is over $100,000, putting it in the top tenth of U.S. wages. The cheap replacement narrative is propaganda.
Perhaps the most revealing part of this spectacle is what the administration is offering in place of the merit system: the Trump Gold Card and Trump Platinum Card.
For $1 million, you can buy a Gold Card. For $2 million, companies can buy one for an employee. For $5 million, you get the Platinum Card, which comes with a perk: 270 days in the United States each year without paying U.S. taxes on foreign income.
Commerce Secretary Lutnick projects these cards could raise $100 billion. That's the real play. Not protecting workers. Not national security. Monetizing American residency.
The administration admits these pay-to-play visas will replace existing routes for distinguished professors, scientists, artists, and athletes. If you've won a Nobel Prize but don't have a million dollars, too bad. If you've got a million and no achievements, welcome to America.
Indian nationals make up over 70% of H-1B visa holders. New Delhi has voiced serious concern about the humanitarian fallout. But Indian business leaders aren't panicking—they're celebrating. Faced with a choice between spending millions to keep engineers in Silicon Valley or opening a development center in Bangalore, companies will do the math. America's loss becomes India's gain.
The proclamation tries to justify this under national security, claiming H-1B abuse discourages Americans from STEM careers. That's absurd. You don't strengthen your tech base by pricing out the world's best talent. You don't inspire students by pushing R&D offshore.
By Monday morning, lawsuits will hit the courts. The American Immigration Lawyers Association is already preparing to sue. The policy may be frozen within days. But the damage is already done. Families thrown into chaos. Companies forced into emergency moves. Students rethinking whether America is worth the risk. Other countries racing to scoop up the talent we're pushing away.
Officials insist all big companies are on board. They're not. Not a single major company has endorsed this policy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already sounded the alarm. Even long-time critics of H-1B wanted reform, not destruction.
The $100,000 visa fee won't survive the courts. The Trump Gold Card is such obvious grift that even this Supreme Court might hesitate. But that's not the point.
The point is the panic. The demonstration that one man, with a single proclamation, can throw lives and businesses into chaos. The message that America is closed unless you're rich enough to buy your way in.
In the name of America First, the administration has put America up for sale.
The price? $100,000 for workers. $1 million for residents. $5 million for tax dodgers.
The American Dream isn't dead. It's been rebranded as a luxury good—with the president's name stamped on it.
And somewhere tonight, as families scramble for flights and companies weigh Canada over California, the architects of this scheme are congratulating themselves. They got their headlines.
The fact that they're selling out America's future for those headlines? That's just the price of doing business in Trump's America.