IFPTE Welcomes Rulemaking to Raise H-1B Wage Levels and Prioritize H-1B Allocation by Skill and Pay, Voices Grave Concerns on Administration’s Worker Rights Record

WASHINGTON, DC – The executive officers of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), a labor union representing upwards of 90,000 professionals in high-skilled occupations in aerospace, energy, public services, civil engineering, research and development, legal professions, and other sectors of the economy, responded to the Presidential Proclamation on “Restriction On Entry Of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers,” issued on September 19, 2025. The proclamation directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to apply a $100,000 fee to H-1B visa petitions for international workers entering the U.S. between now and September 21, 2026, and gives DHS discretion to exempt individuals, employers, and whole industries from the fee. The proclamation also calls for rulemaking at directs the Department of Labor (DOL) to update H-1B wage levels and at DHS to prioritize allocation of H-1B visas by skill and pay.

IFPTE President Matthew Biggs:

“For over 30 years, IFPTE has advocated for overhauling the H-1B visa program so employers can no longer game the system to lower wages, labor standards, take advantage of guestworkers, and displace workers in the U.S. and outsource their jobs. We have long endorsed the Durbin-Grassley H-1B and L-1 reform bill and the Keep STEM Talent Act and we welcome serious efforts by the Administration to award H-1B visas based on the highest pay and skill levels, raise wage levels, and require employers to only recruit outside of the U.S. when they have proven they cannot find qualified workers in the U.S. We also look to this Administration to commit resources to DOL for enforcement when employers commit fraud, underpay and misclassify guest workers, and abuse the H-1B, L-1, B visas and other work visas. That said, the Administration’s new $100,000 fee for employers bringing overseas workers into the U.S. on the H-1B program lets DHS carve out any individual, employer, or industry for any reason. It wouldn’t surprise me if we start seeing tech companies in the U.S. and overseas negotiate with the Administration to be excluded from the new one-time fee, while a few companies that make massive profits off the H-1B program may just pay the fee.    

Working Americans need real solutions, not gimmicks that invite companies to cut deals with the President, while workers are left out. We simply cannot ignore that the Administration’s statements that they will address the longstanding flaws of the H-1B program are being made after they’ve fully embraced a pro-corporate, anti-worker agenda that has already weakened America’s labor laws and union rights, rolled back occupational health and safety, and illegitimately deprived union rights from over 1 million federal workers.”  

IFPTE Secretary Treasurer Gay Henson:

“IFPTE members work in industries and occupations where the damage caused by the H-1B visa program and other high skill work visas is a reality. It impacts wages, working conditions, displaces workers, facilitates offshore outsourcing of American jobs, and makes the work more precarious, harder to organize, undermines workforce development efforts, and creates a two-tiered system of worker rights and labor mobility. We need real reform across all the high skill work visa categories so employers in the U.S. can’t get away with undercutting wages, keeping guest workers’ status captive to employers, and eroding job quality. Raising H-1B wage levels and awarding H-1Bs by skill and pay is long overdue and in the interest of all working people. If the President is serious about standing up for American workers, then we urgently call on him to reverse the Administration’s agenda to roll back worker rights and unions, cut public education, and weaken public services and benefits that working people and communities count on.” 

IFPTE is a labor union representing upwards of 90,000 workers in the federal, public, and private sectors.

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Download a PDF of this press release here.