US House bill proposes raising serious H-1B violation fines from $35,000 to $250,000 and extending employer bans from at least 3 years to 10 years as Washington’s visa crackdown intensifies.
Under Van Duyne’s proposal, the minimum ban on employers found responsible for serious H-1B violations would increase from three years to 10 years. The legislation would also raise the fine for another category of violations from $5,000 to $100,000, while extending the minimum exclusion period from two years to five years. In 2025, the administration introduced a $100,000 payment for certain H-1B workers entering the US.
A Republican lawmaker in the US House has introduced legislation that would significantly increase the penalties facing employers found to have committed serious violations of the H-1B visa programme, as scrutiny of the foreign-worker system grows under the Trump administration. The bill is part of a wider effort in Congress and the Trump administration to tighten oversight of the H-1B system, which allows US employers to hire foreign workers for specialised occupations. For the proposed penalties to take effect, the legislation would have to pass both the House and Senate and then receive the president’s signature. The proposal follows a broader push by the Trump administration to tighten rules around the H-1B program. A federal judge struck down the measure in June, and the administration has appealed the decision.