Following the Trump administration’s decision to add a $100,000 fee to H-1B visa applicants, one retail giant has reportedly paused job offers to candidates who require the work permit.
Walmart has halted hiring individuals who require an H-1B temporary work visa due to the Trump administration’s decision to impose a $100,000 application fee, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The current guidelines primarily affect corporate employees, the outlet reported.
Government data shows the company is the largest user of H-1B visas among major retailers, employing about 2,390 visa holders.
“We’ve got qualified Americans all over this country,” Azoria CEO James Fishback said in reaction on “Varney & Co.” Wednesday. “[Students’] big fear, as the youth unemployment rate is now double that of the national average, is that they are not going to get jobs because Google, Amazon, Meta and Apple are turning to foreigners from India and China to replace those roles.”
BUSINESS LEADERS WARN TRUMP’S $100K H-1B VISA FEE COULD HURT INNOVATION, DRIVE TALENT OUT OF U.S.
“Made in America has to be taken a step further: made in America by Americans,” he continued. “The entire social contract of America is that we put our people first. When we have qualified Americans looking for jobs, and they’re being passed over because a Fortune 500 company wants to get cheap labor from India and exploit that labor, that is not OK.”
Walmart did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Last month, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation restricting the issuance of H-1B visas by requiring applicants to pay a $100,000 fee starting Sept. 21, a move that prompted a lawsuit from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber argues the fee illegally overrides provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act that govern the H-1B visa program, including the requirement that fees reflect government processing costs.
The H-1B visa program allows employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations that require specific expertise and at least a bachelor’s degree. H-1B workers have temporary authorization to work in the U.S., though the visa is renewable.
The program’s intent is to give employers access to talent not available in the domestic workforce, and by law, companies must certify that wages for H-1B employees are comparable to those of similar U.S. workers.
“We should take the absolute best of the best, and that’s what the O-1 visa program allows us to do,” Fishback noted. “If you are a top AI scientist from China and you want to help OpenAI beat the China arms race in AI and get us at the very top, absolutely, bring them in.”
“I think the way to do it is let the market decide how you do it, and you do that by actually creating a floor with the scope of actually ending the H-1B program entirely,” he added. “If you’re saying you can’t afford $100,000 a year to pay some skilled worker, then they’re not all that skilled at the end of the day.”
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FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
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