New H-1B Bill Would Hit Employers With $250,000 Fines - Newsweek
House Republicans introduced legislation that would increase penalties on employers found to have committed serious violations of the H-1B visa program, including raising the maximum fine from $35,000 to $250,000.
Representative Beth Van Duyne of Texas introduced the H-1B Visa Fraud Crackdown Act on October 1. The two-page bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to increase financial penalties and the length of time certain violators can be barred from participating in immigration programs.
The proposal comes as the Trump administration has moved to tighten oversight of the H-1B visa, which allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers for specialty occupations.
Van Duyne told Newsweek, "As Vice President Vance recently noted in interviews, the H-1B program is being grossly abused. As he explicitly stated, it is up to Congress to enact reforms to stop H-1B visa abuse, which is why I introduced the Visa Fraud Crackdown Act to create severe financial penalties for companies who choose to break our laws and take advantage of the American workforce as a normal course of their business practices.
"If the H-1B program was severely limited, as it was originally intended, to help U.S. companies attract the best, brightest, and most intelligent individuals in their field then it would be a useful program which serves American interests, but unfortunately the H-1B program has been severely degraded and is now a discriminatory barrier to American jobs going to American workers. For companies who are concerned about how the Visa Fraud Crackdown Act may affect their operations, I would simply say, ‘If your business model is built on breaking American laws, you need a different business model."
The H-1B program has divided Trump’s political coalition. Immigration hard-liners in the MAGA movement have called for tighter restrictions or an end to the program, arguing it can displace American workers, while figures in the technology industry have defended it as an important way for U.S. companies to recruit highly skilled workers from overseas.
A $100,000 fee imposed in 2025 on certain H-1B workers entering the U.S. was struck down by a federal judge in June, and the administration appealed. The Department of Homeland Security has separately proposed a $103,265 fee on H-1B petitions subject to the annual cap, which would be paid by employers on top of existing filing fees. The administration has also pursued changes to the visa selection process and proposed ending a rule allowing some foreign workers to remain in the U.S. for up to 60 days after losing their job.
Under Van Duyne's bill, one penalty would increase from $5,000 to $100,000, while the minimum ban associated with that violation would rise from two years to five years. For more serious violations, the fine would increase from $35,000 to $250,000, and the minimum ban would rise from three years to 10 years.
The legislation would also increase penalties for document fraud. Fines currently ranging from $250 to $2,000 would rise to between $1,000 and $10,000. Another range of fines, currently $2,000 to $5,000, would increase to between $20,000 and $50,000
In a post on X announcing the legislation, Van Duyne said the bill would "drastically increase monetary penalties for intentional H-1B violations by employers."
She said she had earlier urged the administration to investigate possible H-1B fraud in North Texas and argued that legislative changes were necessary to address misuse of the program.
"Now, we need to make serious legislative reforms to stop the corruption and cheating that costs American jobs," Van Duyne wrote.
The measure was introduced with five Republican cosponsors, all from Texas: Representatives Brandon Gill, Pete Sessions, Keith Self, Brian Babin and Pat Fallon.
The legislation is one of several proposals in Congress seeking major changes to employment-based immigration. Republican Representative Eli Crane of Arizona has introduced the End H-1B Visa Abuse Act, which would pause new H-1B visas for three years, cut the annual cap and set a $200,000 salary requirement.
Republican Representative Chip Roy of Texas has proposed the American White-Collar Worker Jobs Act, which would end the ability of H-1B workers to use the visa as a pathway toward permanent residency and overhaul how the visas are awarded. Other legislation takes the opposite approach, including a renewed proposal aimed at reducing the green-card backlog that could provide relief to millions of people waiting for permanent residency, including H-1B workers.
Van Duyne’s bill has only been introduced in the House, meaning the higher penalties are not currently in effect. It would have to pass Congress and become law before the changes could take effect.
The bill faces an uncertain path through Congress. It has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee and has five cosponsors, all Republicans. It would need to pass the House and Senate before the end of the current Congress and be signed by the president to become law.
