Trump introduces $100,000 visa
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 September 2025
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Several major US companies are said to have advised staff on highly skilled visas not to leave the United States after the Trump administration suddenly increased the annual visa fee to a hundred-thousand-dollars. Reports say the firms - including Microsoft and Amazon - told those outside the country to return before midnight on Saturday when the rules come into effect, fearing they will be barred entry. More than 70 percent of H-1B visa-holders are Indian nationals.
Also in the programme: Russian military jets enter Estonian airspace; and President Trump steps up his pressure on Venezuela.
(Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump displays a signed executive order. CREDIT: REUTERS/Ken Cedeno)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:09.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.7 | We are coming to you live from London. |
| 0:14.8 | I'm Krupa Parji, and it's very good to have you with us. |
| 0:18.4 | Since taking office in January, President Trump has launched a wide-ranging |
| 0:23.2 | immigration crackdown. And whilst marked to the focus has been on undocumented migrants, |
| 0:28.3 | attention has now shifted to those foreign workers who have entered the country legally. |
| 0:32.9 | The latest move is all to do with the H-1B temporary visas, and these are for highly skilled immigrants. |
| 0:39.2 | And it's the tech industry that relies on this visa the most. Now, an executive order has been |
| 0:44.4 | signed that will add a $100,000 fee for this visa. And for context, until now, the fee totaled |
| 0:51.2 | around $1,500. So we are talking about an eye-watering hike. |
| 0:56.7 | Trump's order is due to coming to force on Sunday, the 21st of September, and it would |
| 1:01.0 | only apply to new applications. But companies would have to pay the same amount for each |
| 1:05.8 | applicant for six years. Here's the U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik. |
| 1:14.1 | So the whole idea is no more will these big tech companies or other big companies train foreign workers. They have to pay the government |
| 1:20.0 | $100,000. Then they have to pay the employee. So it's just not economic. If you're going to train |
| 1:26.2 | somebody, you're going to train one of the recent graduates from |
| 1:30.3 | one of the great universities across our land, train Americans, stop bringing in people to take |
| 1:36.3 | our jobs. |
| 1:37.3 | That's the policy here. |
| 1:39.3 | $100,000 a year for H-1B visas and all of the big companies are on board. We've spoken to them about the |
| 1:46.9 | gold card. They love it. They love it. And that's executive order was then signed by Mr. Trump |
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