Walmart halts job offers for applicants who need H-1B visas after Trump raises fees to $100,000

Walmart, America’s largest private-sector employer, is pausing job offers to foreign candidates needing H-1B visas to work in the United States, a company spokesperson told CNN. It’s a significant shift that demonstrates how major companies are changing their policies in response to Trump’s strict immigration agenda that could have major ramifications for US businesses and high-skilled workers from overseas. Walmart’s policy change, which wasfirst reported by Bloomberg, comes after President Donald Trump announced a $100,000 fee on the visas designed for high-skilled positions that companies struggle to fill. The H-1B is a work visa that’s valid for three years and can be renewed for another three years. Economists have argued the program allows US companies to maintain competitiveness and grow their business, creating more jobs in the US. Major tech companies are the largest users of the program. Walmart, which has a significant and rapidly growing online marketplace that competes with Amazon, currently employs more than 2,000 H-1B visa holders, according to government data. “Walmart is committed to hiring and investing in the best talent to serve our customers, while remaining thoughtful about our H-1B hiring approach,” a Walmart spokesperson told CNN. The Trump administration says the fee is intended to curb abuse of the H-1B program. But the new fee could have significant ramifications for the thousands of H1-B workers employed in the United States each year – and big costs for the firms who rely on the program to bring in highly skilled talent they can’t find at home. Trump’s move is set to disproportionately impact skilled professionals from India, who have consistently accounted for the majority of approved applications in recent years.