Those H-1B visa holders who now are outside the US need not rush back. H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would.
Published Sep 21, 2025 | 9:21 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 21, 2025 | 10:35 AM
US President Donald J Trump
Synopsis: Contrary to what was said earlier, the White House on Saturday clarified that the new H-1B policy will apply only to new applicants, and those who already hold the visas will not be affected. The US also said that those H-1B visa holders, currently out of the country, need to rush back before the deadline.
The US has issued a clarification to the Trump administration’s H-1B visa policy, which has caused significant confusion and panic in the tech industry.
The White House clarified on Saturday, September 20, that the new policy, which imposes a $1,00,000 fee for H-1B visas, will be a one-time payment applicable only to new applicants. The latest order will now apply to H-1B visa holders and new applicants.
The White House said the policy will affect not those holding an H-1B visa and currently in the US, but they need not rush back before Sunday.
Hours before the new policy was to take effect, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a clarification that the hiked fee will be applicable only to new visas.
“This is not an annual fee,” she said. Its’ a one-time fee that applies…only to new visas, not renewals, and not current visa holders,” Leavitt added, clearing the confusion.
“Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter,” Leavitt said.
“H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would,” she added.
Earlier, the White House said that the fee would be applied annually.
To be clear:
1.) This is NOT an annual fee. It’s a one-time fee that applies only to the petition.
2.) Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter.
H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the…
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) September 20, 2025
The new fee for H1B application shall be applicable from the next lottery, most likely in February, 2026.
H-1B visas have been given for years based on lottery system. This year, 2024-25, Amazon was the top recipient of H-1B visas, followed by Tata Consultancy Services, Apple and Google. The current fee is a nominal $2,000-5,000 per application.
As details of how the new fee will be applied were not immediately available following Trump’s announcement on Friday, big tech companies issued advisory to their employees on H1B visas to return to the US within 24 hours. This led to panic as hundreds of IT workers rushed to buy air tickets to fly back to the US.
Stating that the H-1B visa programme was abused, affected American workers, and posed a threat to national security by discouraging Americans from pursuing careers in science and technology the White House had on Friday, 19 September, said, “It is therefore necessary to impose higher costs on companies seeking to the use the H-1B programme in order to address the abuse of the programme while still permitting companies to hire the best temporary foreign workers”.
The US Chamber of Commerce expressed its concern in a statement.
The proclamation further imposed a fee of $1,00,000 for H-1B visas, and added that the restriction shall expire, absent extension, 12 months after the effective date of this proclamation, which shall be 12.01 am, eastern daylight time on September 21, 2025.”
The order rattled the tech industry, and foreigners holding H-1B visas, but visiting other countries, rushed back to the US to meet the deadline.
The executive order left the US Chamber of Commerce concerned. “We’re concerned about the impact on employees, their families and employers. We’re working with the Administration and our members to understand the full implications and the best path forward,” it stated on Saturday.
