Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers

A presidential proclamation extends last year's $100,000 fee on H-1B visa petitions through September 2027, citing steep drops in registrations by IT staffing firms and a shift toward higher-paid applicants as evidence the policy works. The administration says outsourcing firms' combined registrations fell 92 percent and consular processing requests dropped nearly 97 percent since the fee took effect. A companion Department of Homeland Security rule now weights the visa lottery toward higher-skilled, higher-paid workers, with a Labor Department wage rule still only proposed.

The proclamation frames the collapse in applications as proof of deterrence working exactly as intended, without addressing what happens to the employers and workers who simply stopped applying rather than paying. It leaves open, as it has for a year, whether the underlying goal is closing wage-suppression loopholes or shrinking the program itself.

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