The "Trump 208k rule" (likely referring to the $100,000 H-1B fee announced in September 2025) refers to a presidential proclamation requiring a $100,000 payment for new H-1B visas. It aims to prioritize high-wage, high-skilled workers and protect U.S. wages, acting as a significant deterrent to lower-cost foreign labor.
The rule is another crucial step to strengthen the integrity of the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program. It is in line with other key changes the administration has made, such as the Presidential Proclamation that requires employers to pay an additional $100,000 per visa as a condition of eligibility.
The Trump Administration has announced a major overhaul of the H-1B visa program that will replace the long-standing lottery used to grant the visas for foreign workers with specialized qualifications with a new weighted system that favors higher-skilled and higher-paid workers.
The INA limits worldwide permanent immigration to 675,000 persons annually: 480,000 family-sponsored immigrants, made up of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, and a set of ordered family-sponsored preference immigrants (preference immigrants); 140,000 employment-based immigrants; and 55,000 diversity visa immigrants ...
The Constitution guarantees due process rights to all “persons,” not just citizens. This means non-citizens, including undocumented immigrants, are entitled to fair treatment under the law. This includes the right to defend themselves in court.
The $100,000 H-1B visa fee applies to U.S. employers filing new petitions on or after September 21, 2025, for foreign workers outside the U.S. who need to obtain an H-1B visa through consular processing or at a port of entry, but it doesn't apply to most petitions for workers already in the U.S. for status changes, extensions, or employer changes, nor to previously approved H-1B visas, with rare national interest exceptions possible for specific critical workers.
Executive Order 13771, signed by President Donald Trump in 2017, was a directive to reduce federal regulations by requiring agencies to repeal at least two existing rules for every new one issued and to keep the total cost of new regulations at or below zero for the fiscal year. It implemented a "one-in, two-out" policy, creating a regulatory budget and aiming to control and cut regulatory costs across the executive branch. This order was later rescinded by President Biden in 2021.
The illegal migration of people into the United States across the Mexico-United States border has caused an ongoing migrant crisis. U.S. presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump both referred to surges in migrants at the border as a "crisis" during their tenure.
List of people granted executive clemency in the second Trump presidency. In his role as the 47th president of the United States (January 20, 2025 – present), Donald Trump granted executive clemency to more than 1,600 individuals as of July 23, 2025, all of whom were charged or convicted of federal criminal offenses.
What states do unauthorized immigrants live in?
There's no single H-1B minimum salary; it's the higher of the "Prevailing Wage" (set by the DOL for the job/location) or the employer's "Actual Wage" for similar roles, with four experience levels (I-IV) impacting the rate, though some rules allow $60k for "exempt" roles at certain employers, but new lottery rules prioritize higher salaries. Recent changes aim to significantly raise these levels, potentially making entry-level H-1B positions require much higher pay (e.g., over $200k in some areas) and giving higher-paid applicants a better chance in the lottery.
On January 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of State (DoS) announced an indefinite pause (effective January 21, 2026) in immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries.
On September 19, 2025, President Trump issued a proclamation ordering an unprecedented $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa petitions, undermining the very purpose of the H-1B visa by making it harder to address severe labor shortages in critical fields such as education and healthcare and ultimately worsening the staffing ...
Sponsoring a U.S. work visa (like an H-1B) costs a company several hundred to several thousands of dollars in mandatory government fees, including filing fees (around $460+), ACWIA fees ($750-$1,500), and Fraud Prevention fees ($500), plus potential extra fees for large employers ($4,000+) and optional premium processing ($2,805). Costs vary significantly by visa type (H-1B, L-1, O-1, Green Card) and company size, with attorney fees adding substantial expense, though employers must cover certain mandatory labor certification costs.
An individual may spend a maximum of 6 years in H-1B status in the United States. (4) In the case of a nonimmigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b), the period of authorized admission as such a nonimmigrant may not exceed 6 years.
But congressional Republicans walked away from it early this year at the urging of GOP presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, who was not supportive of the bill because he is centering his reelection campaign on immigration. The chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep.
It ends illegal immigration, restores law and order, provides legal status (no amnesty) for certain long-term undocumented immigrants, strengthens the American workforce, modernizes our legal immigration system, and helps pay down the national debt.
Under President Biden, more than two million immigrants per year have entered, government data shows.
The United States takes in the most immigrants by total number, hosting tens of millions more than any other country, followed by countries like Germany, Saudi Arabia, and the UK. However, if looking at the percentage of immigrants relative to the total population, smaller nations like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait have much higher shares of foreign-born residents.
Estimates for the number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2025 vary, but reports from mid-to-late 2025 suggested numbers around 14 to 15.4 million in early 2025, with some data showing a potential decline later in the year due to increased enforcement and voluntary departures, though a precise final figure for 2025 isn't set, with 2023 data from Pew Research Center and Migration Policy Institute pointing to 14 million as a recent high.