White House clarifies $100,000 fee does not apply to current H1B visa holders or renewals. Safe to travel. Also, its not annual fee

TOI correspondent from Washington: The Trump White House has walked back a more stringent interpretation of the enhanced $ 100,000 H1B visa fee, clarifying it does not impact current visa holders and applies only to visa applicants in the next lottery cycle which starts around March 2026.

Directly contradicting US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s statement made alongside President Trump that the $ 100,000 sticker shock on H1B visas would be an annual fee, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt also clarified it would be a one-time fee that applies only to new petitions, not to renewals or to current visa holders. “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 country to the same extent as they normally would; whatever ability they have to do that is not impacted by yesterday’s proclamation, “ Leavitt said in a statement after the Trump-Lutnick presser in the Oval office on Friday on the President’s executive order had triggered panic among foreign guest workers in US and across the world.

Scores of foreign guest workers in US are reported to have canceled trips abroad and those already abroad scrambled to return before September 21, after some tech companies sent out advisories asking them to return asap, fearing the new fees would kick in immediately.

As with many such initiatives, the imprecise language and botched announcement triggered angry denunciations on both sides of the debate over foreign guest workers. Amid taunts of TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) MAGA hardliners fumed about being let down, demanding a more stringent reading of the order to keep out foreign workers they say are taking away American jobs.. “Well this ruined my day. It should apply to renewals. And it should apply to transfers.

And it should apply to ones that leave and return. Because if they leave and return so much - why aren't they just employed remotely? Why do they need a visa?” one anti-HIB critic fumed after the White House clarification. Chuffed with success, albeit partial, in constraining H1B visas, some MAGA tech activists are now taking aim at OPT programs, which allow foreign graduates to stay on in the US for training after they graduate, and L1 visas, which allow multinational companies to transfer certain qualified employees from a foreign office to a related office in the U.S.