Bentonville: Walmart has decided to pause hiring candidates requiring H-1B visas, with new fees imposed by the Trump administration.
The move comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order introducing a $100,000 (£74,000) charge for H-1B applicants, citing misuse of the programme and concerns over its impact on American workers.
The retail giant, the largest private employer in the US with roughly 1.6 million employees, has been a major beneficiary of the H-1B programme, with over 2,000 visas approved in the first half of 2025 alone. While H-1B visas are typically associated with the US tech sector, Walmart has utilised the programme extensively to hire skilled foreign workers.
Tech giants continue to dominate H-1B allocations. Amazon led with more than 10,000 visas approved in the first half of 2025, while Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Google each secured more than 4,000 visas during the same period. Startups and smaller firms outside of tech also rely on the programme to attract skilled talent.
Trump’s order applies only to new visa requests, mandating the hefty fee before entry is granted.
Critics argue that H-1B visas undercut US workers, while supporters, including Elon Musk, say the programme is essential for attracting top global talent. India remains the largest source of H-1B recipients, accounting for more than 70 percent, followed by China at around 12 percent.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick commented that, “The company needs to decide the person valuable enough to have a $100,000-a-year payment to the government, or they should head home, and they should go hire an American.”
Business groups, however, have challenged the move. The US Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, calling the fee cost-prohibitive and warning it could force businesses to either raise labor costs or reduce highly skilled hiring. The White House defended the measure as a lawful and necessary, initial, incremental step towards necessary reforms of the programme.
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