WERC, formerly known as Worldwide ERC, has released the following statement regarding U.S. President Donald Trump’s 19 September proclamation on the H-1B Visa:
WASHINGTON, DC, 2 October 2025 –The Trump administration has rightly identified, as outlined in its August 2025 “America’s Talent Strategy” report, the criticality of ushering in America’s “Golden Age” by empowering an industry-led workforce strategy aligned with America’s economic priorities. Employers are best positioned to know what skills and human capital are needed to maximize the effectiveness of their business operations and global competitiveness. Policies that enable companies to access the talent they need, where they need it, are at the heart of making this Golden Age a reality.
However, implementing the $100,000 per individual fee for new H-1B petitions included in President Trump’s proclamation of 19 September 2025 undermines this objective. For decades, the H-1B visa has been a conduit for helping American employers from Wall Street to Main Street engage the talent they need to empower economic growth and foster business innovation. Studies have shown that a single H-1B visa position supports at least 1.8 American positions and contributes meaningfully to the local, state, and national economy, with this employment and economic multiplier being even larger for small and medium-sized firms. U.S. employers are well aware of this correlation. In the most recent FY 2026 H-1B visa lottery, of the over 57,600 employers that submitted a registration, a vast majority of the companies were small and medium-sized enterprises.
Most employers of any size, but particularly small and medium-sized organizations, are not in a position to afford such a high fee. And even for those that can, the additional cost likely will come at the expense of other tangible investments in their U.S. business operations and thereby negatively impact U.S. domestic employment.
WERC, on behalf of the global talent mobility industry and thousands of U.S. and multinational corporations, urges the administration to rescind the new $100,000 fee for H-1B petitions and instead work with U.S. employers to modernize the H-1B visa program to ensure that current and future workforce needs are met and that America’s position as the global economic leader is not only preserved but further strengthened. Additionally, we urge the administration to empower American workers to better take advantage of available job opportunities across the United States by removing barriers that hinder their ability to move by fully reinstating the moving expense tax deduction and exclusion so that American workers are not financially penalized by the U.S. tax code for moving to access available jobs in the United States.
Talent mobility is at the heart of being able to ensure American employers are best equipped to bring President Trump’s vision of America’s Golden Age to reality, and WERC and our members stand ready to engage with the administration in support of this effort.
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Contact:
Michael T. Jackson, Vice President, Public Policy & Research
+1 (703) 842-3411 (P)
mjackson@talenteverywhere.org