BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
The H-1B nonimmigrant visa program was originally designed to invite skilled temporary workers to the United States, enhancing our workforce with their specialized talents. However, this noble intent has been skewed into a tool for employers to replace American workers with cheaper, less skilled alternatives. The systematic exploitation of this program has not only jeopardized our economic stability but also posed significant threats to national security. Some employers have adopted practices that violate the spirit of the H-1B regulations, leading to artificially suppressed wages and creating an uneven playing field for American citizens. This has particularly affected high-demand fields such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Between 2000 and 2019, the number of foreign STEM workers in the United States skyrocketed from 1.2 million to nearly 2.5 million, while overall STEM employment grew a mere 44.5 percent. Notably, the foreign share of the workforce in computer and math occupations spiked from 17.7 percent in 2000 to 26.1 percent by 2019. The rampant misuse of the H-1B visa has facilitated this influx of foreign labor.
Information technology (IT) companies have particularly taken advantage of the H-1B system, harming American workers in computer-related jobs significantly. The percentage of IT workers in the H-1B program surged from 32 percent in Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 to an average of over 65 percent in the last five fiscal years. Many of the most significant H-1B employers are now IT outsourcing firms, which provide considerable savings for employers — a study found that H-1B “entry-level” positions come at a 36 percent discount compared to standard full-time American workers. To exploit these lower labor costs, companies have closed their IT departments, laid off American staff, and outsourced IT tasks to cheaper foreign workers.
This manipulation of the H-1B visa program has made it increasingly difficult for American college graduates to secure IT positions, allowing employers to hire foreign workers at a considerably lower cost. The consequences are dire; according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York study, recent college graduates in computer science and computer engineering are facing some of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, at 6.1 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively. These figures are more than double those of recent graduates in fields like biology and art history. Alarmingly, unemployment among computer occupations jumped from an average of 1.98 percent in 2019 to 3.02 percent in 2025.
Reports indicate that numerous American tech firms have laid off qualified American employees while simultaneously hiring thousands of H-1B workers. For instance, one software company welcomed over 5,000 H-1B workers in FY 2025 while announcing layoffs of more than 15,000 employees. Another IT firm approved for nearly 1,700 H-1B workers in FY 2025 also laid off 2,400 American workers in Oregon that same July. A third company has cut approximately 27,000 American jobs since 2022, while being granted over 25,000 H-1B approvals in the same timeframe. Additionally, a fourth company eliminated 1,000 jobs in February, yet was granted over 1,100 H-1B positions for FY 2025.
American IT employees have reported being coerced into training the foreign workers who replaced them, often under the condition of signing nondisclosure agreements in exchange for severance. This trend suggests that H-1B visas are not being utilized to fill genuine occupational shortages or recruit highly skilled workers unavailable domestically.
The high influx of lower-wage workers through the H-1B program undermines the program’s integrity and adversely affects American wages and employment opportunities, particularly at entry-level positions in sectors where these low-paid H-1B workers are concentrated. Such abuses also hinder employers in other industries from using the H-1B program as intended — to fill roles where there are no qualified American workers available.
The misuse of the H-1B program also constitutes a national security risk. Domestic law enforcement agencies have scrutinized H-1B-reliant outsourcing companies for engaging in visa fraud and other criminal activities that facilitate the entry of foreign workers into the United States.
Moreover, the H-1B program’s shortcomings discourage Americans from pursuing careers in science and technology, jeopardizing U.S. leadership in these vital sectors. A 2017 study indicated that American computer scientists could have seen wages 2.6 to 5.1 percent higher and increased employment rates of 6.1 to 10.8 percent in 2001 if not for the influx of foreign labor into the field.
Therefore, it is essential to impose stricter costs on companies utilizing the H-1B program to address these abuses while still allowing for the hiring of exceptional temporary foreign workers.
The extensive damages inflicted by the rampant misuse of this program necessitate immediate action. I conclude that unrestricted entry into the United States of certain foreign workers, as described in section 1 of this proclamation, would be detrimental to American interests as it would directly harm American workers by undermining their wages.
Accordingly, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Restriction on Entry. (a) Pursuant to sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), the entry into the United States of aliens as nonimmigrants to perform services in a specialty occupation under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b), is restricted, except for those aliens whose petitions are accompanied or supplemented by a payment of $100,000 — subject to the exceptions set forth in subsection (c) of this section. This restriction shall expire, absent extension, 12 months after the effective date of this proclamation, which shall be 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on September 21, 2025.
(b) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall restrict decisions on petitions not accompanied by a $100,000 payment for H-1B specialty occupation workers under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the INA, who are currently outside the United States, for 12 months following the effective date of this proclamation as set forth in subsection (a) of this section. The Secretary of State shall also issue guidance, as necessary and to the extent permitted by law, to prevent misuse of B visas by alien beneficiaries of approved H-1B petitions that have an employment start date beginning prior to October 1, 2026.
(c) The restriction imposed pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply to any individual alien, all aliens working for a company, or all aliens working in an industry, if the Secretary of Homeland Security determines, in the Secretary’s discretion, that hiring such aliens as H-1B specialty occupation workers serves the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States.
Sec 2. Compliance. (a) Employers shall, prior to filing an H-1B petition on behalf of an alien outside the United States, obtain and retain documentation confirming that the payment described in section 1 has been made.
(b) The Secretary of State shall verify the receipt of payment during the H-1B visa petition process and will approve only those petitions for which the filing employer has made the required payment.
(c) The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State shall coordinate to take all necessary actions to implement this proclamation and deny entry to any H-1B nonimmigrant for whom the prospective employer has not made the required payment.
Sec 3. Scope and Implementation of Restriction on Entry. (a) The restriction on entry pursuant to section 1 of this proclamation shall apply only to aliens who enter or attempt to enter the United States after the effective date of this proclamation as set forth in section 1(a).
(b) No later than 30 days following the completion of the H-1B lottery that immediately follows this proclamation, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall jointly submit to the President, through the Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor, a recommendation on whether an extension or renewal of the restriction on entry is in the interests of the United States.
Sec 4. Amending the Prevailing Wage Levels. (a) The Secretary of Labor shall initiate a rulemaking to revise the prevailing wage levels to align with the policy objectives of this proclamation, consistent with section 212(n) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(n).
(b) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall initiate a rulemaking to prioritize the admission of high-skilled and well-compensated aliens, in accordance with sections 101, 212, and 214 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1101, 1182, and 1184.
Sec 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget related to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This proclamation shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This proclamation is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
nineteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fiftieth.
DONALD J. TRUMP
