In a move that has stirred a potential legal storm, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation mandating a $100,000 yearly visa fee for highly skilled foreign professionals and introduced a $1 million “gold card” visa as a route to U.S. citizenship for affluent individuals, a decision that is likely to be challenged legally and criticized for bypassing Congress.

If these measures withstand legal scrutiny, there will be significant fee hikes. The visa fee for skilled workers will soar from $215, while the fee for investor visas, which are prevalent in numerous European countries, will increase from $10,000-$20,000 annually.

The H-1B visas, intended for high-skilled roles requiring at least a bachelor’s degree, are used by tech companies struggling to fill specific positions. Critics argue that the program serves as a funnel for overseas workers willing to accept annual salaries as low as $60,000, which is considerably below the $100,000 or more typically paid to U.S. tech professionals.

Trump on Friday insisted that the tech industry would not oppose the move. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said “all big companies” are on board.

Major tech firms like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta have yet to respond to inquiries for comments on Friday, while Microsoft opted not to provide any remarks.

Lutnick said the change will likely result in far fewer H-1B visas than the 85,000 annual cap allows because “it’s just not economic anymore.”

“If you’re going to train people, you’re going to train Americans,” Lutnick remarked during a press call. “If you have a highly skilled engineer you want to bring in, you will have to pay $100,000 annually for their H-1B visa.”

In addition, Trump disclosed plans to introduce a $1 million “gold card” visa, offering a trajectory towards U.S. citizenship post-vetting, with a $2 million sponsorship fee for companies wishing to employ an individual.

The “Trump Platinum Card” will be available for a $5 million and allow foreigners to spend up to 270 days in the U.S. without being subject to U.S. taxes on non-U.S. income. Trump announced a $5 million gold card in February to replace an existing investor visa — this is now the platinum card.

Lutnick said the gold and platinum cards would replace employment-based visas that offer paths to citizenship, including for professors, scientists, artists and athletes.

Critics of H-1Bs visas who say they are used to replace American workers applauded the move. U.S. Tech Workers, an advocacy group, called it “the next best thing” to abolishing the visas altogether.

Doug Rand, a senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration, said the proposed fee increase was “ludicrously lawless.”

“This isn’t real policy — it’s fan service for immigration restrictionists,” Rand said. “Trump gets his headlines, and inflicts a jolt of panic, and doesn’t care whether this survives first contact with the courts.”

Lutnick said the H-1B fees and gold card could be introduced by the president but the platinum card needs congressional approval.

Historically, H-1B visas have been doled out through lottery. This year, Amazon was by far the top recipient of H-1B visas with more than 10,000 awarded, followed by Tata Consultancy, Microsoft, Apple and Google. Geographically, California has the highest number of H-1B workers.

Critics say H-1B spots often go to entry-level jobs, rather than senior positions with unique skill requirements. And while the program isn’t supposed to undercut U.S. wages or displace U.S. workers, critics say companies can pay less by classifying jobs at the lowest skill levels, even if the specific workers hired have more experience.

As a result, many U.S. companies find it cheaper to contract out help desks, programming and other basic tasks to consulting companies such as Wipro, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Tata in India and IBM and Cognizant in the U.S. These consulting companies hire foreign workers, often from India, and contract them out to U.S. employers looking to save money.

First lady Melania Trump, the former Melania Knauss, was granted an H-1B work visa in October 1996 to work as a model. She was born in Slovenia.

In 2024, lottery bids for the visas plunged nearly 40%, which authorities said was due to success against people who were “gaming the system” by submitting multiple, sometimes dubious, applications to unfairly increase chances of being selected.

Major technology companies that use H-1B visas sought changes after massive increases in bids left their employees and prospective hires with slimmer chances of winning the random lottery. Facing what it acknowledged was likely fraud and abuse, USCIS this year said each employee had only one shot at the lottery, whether the person had one job offer or 50.

Critics welcomed the change but said more needs to be done. The AFL-CIO wrote last year that while changes to the lottery “included some steps in the right direction,” it fell short of needed reforms. The labor group wants visas awarded to companies that pay the highest wages instead of by random lottery, a change that Trump sought during his first term in the White House.

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Ortutay reported from Oakland, Calif. Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.