Walmart suspends H-1B visa job offers after Trump fee hike

Walmart is pausing the hiring of job candidates who need H-1B visas to work in the U.S., according to a person familiar with the decision, an example of the ways the Trump administration’s immigration policies are shaping corporate strategy.

Walmart’s decision comes after President Donald Trump in September announced higher fees for the visas, which allow companies to temporarily hire skilled workers from other countries such as China and India. The Trump administration said it would now require companies to pay a $100,000 fee for each new visa application. It said the decision was intended to protect American workers’ jobs and end abuse of the visa.

In a statement, a Walmart spokesperson said, “Walmart is committed to hiring and investing in the best talent to serve our customers while remaining thoughtful about our H-1B hiring approach.”

Exceptions to the pause on H-1B hiring are possible in some cases, said the person familiar with the decision, who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. 

H-1B visas, which Congress created in 1990, have been a way for companies to bring in skilled workers from other countries when they can’t find qualified applicants in the U.S. It’s been frequently used for filling science, technology, engineering and math roles.

The program has an annual cap of 65,000, along with an additional 20,000 visas for foreign professionals with a master’s degree or doctorate from a U.S. institution, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. If demand is above the cap, a lottery system is used.

For the Trump administration, the steeper fee on H-1Bs is intended as a deterrant for companies who are weighing whether to hire a foreign worker over an American. It fits into Trump’s broader goal of using trade policy and an immigration crackdown to compel companies to invest in their U.S. operations and hire U.S.-born workers.

Walmart is the nation’s largest private employer with about 1.6 million employees in the country at the end of the most recent fiscal year, and most work in the company’s big-box stores and warehouses. However, H-1B visas are typically used for a small portion of Walmart’s corporate ranks. 

The retail giant’s corporate workforce is based in its headquarters of Bentonville, Arkansas, as well as major U.S. cities like the San Francisco Bay Area.

Walmart had 2,390 employees on H-1B visas, making it the ninth largest U.S. employer to issue the visas, according to U.S. government data as of June 30. Microsoft is No. 1 with 5,189, followed closely by Meta, the parent company of Facebook.

Yet the decision has faced pushback by some in the corporate world. Earlier this month, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit challenging the new H-1B visa fee.

In a news release, the U.S. Chamber’s Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley said the fee “will make it cost-prohibitive for U.S. employers, especially start-ups and small and midsize businesses, to utilize the H-1B program, which was created by Congress expressly to ensure that American businesses of all sizes can access the global talent they need to grow their operations here in the U.S.”

Walmart’s policy change was first reported by Bloomberg.