Trump’s H-1B approval rate for his second term is higher than his first term and Obama’s, tying Biden’s during his first year. At the current rate of approvals and pace of applications, Trump could end up approving more H-1B visa applications than in his first term and maybe more than Biden. Trump’s restrictions on H-1B visas, notably the $100k new application fee, only went into effect in late September of 2025. The fee doesn’t apply to any visa holder already in the US, and the visa still allows for dependents to be sponsored and migrate with them. A student visa holder can hypothetically transition to H-1B status without the fee and then sponsor main dependents. As a note, Trump has reduced the number of approved student visas and other visas broadly, with reviews of visa applications. Notably, visas from the 39 banned countries are subject to extra scrutiny. Follow: @AFpost
