President Trump signed a proclamation requiring H1B visa holders to pay $100,000, and requires the employers to keep record of the payment remittance. The H1B program is designed to bring highly-educated foreigners to the United States to perform specific professional functions. These immigrants are always sponsored by their employers. They fill important gaps that exist in the pool of important employees.
Employers who make use of this program immediately panicked, after which Trump announced that this fee will only bee charged for new visa applicants, which did not really resolve the concerns. Employers who have avoided simply hiring foreign companies to provide services—specifically, technology services—how have an enormous incentive to simply hire third party vendors outside of the country for the services. Jobs provided to Americans on these teams of tech professionals may now see the entire tech operation of these businesses outsourced.
On the same day, the President finally announced the Gold Card. This card, which apparently will bear the image of Trump, is offered to wealthy immigrants who give the Department of Commerce $1 million, or corporations who donate $2 million on the immigrant's behalf. The immigrant will be given expedited approval and enter the country without further ado.
The visa is transferrable: If the individual wants to swap himself out for another person, or if the corporation wants to send the person back and swap him out for a different immigrant, this is allowable. In that sense, this just becomes a transferrable free pass.
This program is managed primarily by the Department of Commerce, with coordination with the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
On the whole, as I review this program on the Department of Commerce website, it's really the same as the EB-1 or EB-2 program, which are current visas given to people for business purposes. Only, now it costs $1 million instead of whatever it cost before. These visas have traditionally cost up to several thousand dollars after all the fees, etc... The visas also are limited in number, and applicants will only be allowed based on the availability of existing visas.
Another tier for this visa is the Trump Platinum card, which will allow people to live in the United States for up to 270 days per year without being taxed on their foreign income. However, not much else has been announced regarding this, and very little information exists on the Department of Commerce website.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/09/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-suspends-the-entry-of-certain-alien-nonimmigrant-workers/
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/20/donald-trump-h1b-visas-overhaul-00574345
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/restriction-on-entry-of-certain-nonimmigrant-workers/
https://trumpcard.gov/
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