President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order directing US agencies to scrutinize H-1B visa applications involving employers that have laid off American workers or are planning layoffs that could affect similarly situated US employees.
The order expands scrutiny of employers using the H-1B program and calls for greater coordination among the Departments of Labor, Homeland Security, State, Commerce and Education, as well as the Small Business Administration.
The White House said the move is intended to strengthen the integrity of the H-1B program and protect American workers.
The administration’s order alleges that some employers, third-party placement groups and outsourcing companies have used the H-1B system to obtain lower-paid foreign workers and displace US employees. It also alleged that some US workers were required to train foreign replacements before leaving their jobs. These figures and allegations are presented by the White House as part of its justification for the order. The administration also pointed to outsourcing companies, saying some H-1B workers are deployed to replace US employees at third-party client businesses before portions of the work are transferred overseas.
The White House cited technology-sector layoffs and said employers in the sector had collectively sought hundreds of thousands of H-1B workers while laying off between 800,000 and 1.3 million American employees from 2022 through 2026.
On the same day, the White House also issued a proclamation extending restrictions on the entry of certain H-1B workers unless their petitions are accompanied by a $100,000 payment, subject to specified exceptions. That restriction is set to take effect September 21, 2026. It also establishes broader interagency information-sharing. Commerce, Education and the Small Business Administration are expected to provide wage, employment, academic, industry and other economic information to the agencies responsible for administering the H-1B program. The order is part of a broader Trump administration push to tighten the H-1B program.
