President Donald Trump will charge a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas, a White House official confirmed to the Washington Examiner.

The president is expected to issue a proclamation enforcing the order as soon as Friday.

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In the process, Trump will say that H-1B workers have displaced skilled workers from the United States and will require the sum to enter the country with the visa. The proclamation is expected to cut down on the use of the visa.

Trump will also order Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to undergo a rulemaking process to revise prevailing wage levels for the H-1B program. It’s unclear whether he will order her to lower or raise the prevailing wage for the immigrant workers.

In a fact sheet reported by Bloomberg News, the White House said American workers are being replaced with lower-paid foreign labor. They called this replacement a “national security threat.”

This dynamic is suppressing wages and discouraging Americans from seeking careers in STEM fields, they said.

The H-1B visa is awarded through a lottery system that costs $215 to enter. A $780 fee must also be paid for Form I-129, a petition for a non-immigrant worker filed by an employer sponsor.

It’s unclear whether the $100,000 fee is in addition to the other fees or is being added.

H-1B visas became a hot topic before Trump entered office for his second term. When he was president-elect, top DOGE advisers Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy pushed for more immigrant skilled workers via the H-1B visa program.

Some segments of Trump’s MAGA base disagreed, with some saying it takes away jobs from Americans.

Trump appeared to agree with his advisers, saying in December 2024 that he used the program often.

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“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times; it’s a great program,” he said.

Musk and Ramaswamy are no longer advising the administration. With the proclamation, Trump is siding with his base on the issue and likely shrinking the use of the H-1B visa program.

Naomi Lim contributed to this report.