Trump hits H-1B visas with $100,000 yearly fee

US President Donald Trump on Friday ordered an annual $100,000 fee be added to H-1B skilled worker visas, creating potentially major repercussions for the tech industry, where such permits are prolific.

The new measure, which could likely face legal challenges, was announced alongside the introduction of a $1 million "gold card" residency program that Trump had previewed months earlier.

"The main thing is, we're going to have great people coming in, and they're going to be paying," Trump told reporters as he signed the orders in the Oval Office.

H-1B visas allow companies to sponsor foreign workers with specialized skills --- such as scientists, engineers, and computer programmers -- to work in the United States, initially for three years, but extendable to six years.

The United States awards 85,000 H-1B visas per year on a lottery system, with India accounting for around three-quarters of the recipients.

Large technology firms rely on Indian workers who either relocate to the United States or come and go between the two countries.

Tech entrepreneurs -- including Trump's former ally Elon Musk -- have warned against targeting H-1B visas, saying that the United States does not have enough homegrown talent to fill important tech sector job vacancies.

"All the big companies are on board," said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who joined Trump in the Oval Office.

Trump has had the H-1B program in his sights since his first term in office, but faced court challenges to his earlier approach, which targeted the types of jobs that qualify. The current iteration has become the latest move in the major immigration crackdown of his second term.

According to Trump's order, the fee will be required for those seeking to enter the country beginning Sunday, with the Homeland Security secretary able to exempt individuals, entire companies, or entire industries.

The order expires in a year, though Trump can extend it.

The number of H-1B visa applications has risen sharply in recent years, with a peak in approvals in 2022 under Democratic president Joe Biden.

In contrast, the peak in rejections was recorded in 2018, during Trump's first term in the White House.

The United States approved approximately 400,000 H-1B visas in 2024, two-thirds of which were renewals.

Trump also signed an order creating a new expedited pathway to US residency for people who pay $1 million, or for corporate sponsors to pay $2 million.

"I think it's going to be tremendously successful," Trump added.

'7th October' victims file a new lawsuit against Hamas, Syria, Iran and North Korea

 

People stand near a wall covered with pictures of Israeli hostages during a demonstration against the Israeli government in the northern Israel city of Karmiel on July 25, 2024. 

Jalaa Marey/AFP/Getty Images

A prominent Jewish advocacy group filed a lawsuit on Thursday against Hamas and other armed groups, as well as Iran, Syria and North Korea, seeking billions in damages over the October 7 attacks in Israel.

The suit, brought on behalf of more than 140 plaintiffs, including US victims and their family members, was filed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and law firm Crowell & Moring in the US District Court in Washington, DC, just weeks before the two-year anniversary of the attack.

The lawsuit seeks at least $7 billion in damages from the armed groups and from the three foreign countries, which it accuses of providing Hamas with “support and resources” for the terror attacks.

The lawsuit appears to be largely symbolic in nature and it’s not clear how those bringing the case plan to serve papers on foreign states or Hamas, an Islamist movement that has been majorly diminished and had much of its leadership eliminated during the war in Gaza.

Many of the plaintiffs and defendants are also parties in a lawsuit filed by the ADL in the same court last year against Iran, Syria and North Korea, which similarly accused the states of providing support to Hamas. The plaintiffs in that case were able to serve papers to Iran with diplomatic help from Switzerland, but they have not successfully served Syria or North Korea and none of the countries have responded in court.

“The victims of the October 7 massacre deserve justice, accountability and redress,” said ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt. “This lawsuit seeks to do that by holding those responsible for the carnage accountable, from the state sponsors who provided the funding, weapons, and training to the terrorist organizations who carried out these unspeakable atrocities.

UN commission says Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

Among the plaintiffs in the case are David and Hazel Brief, whose son Yona, an Israeli soldier, died from injuries sustained during the attack. They said in a statement provided by the ADL that Yona’s life was “senselessly cut short.”

“We believe it is critical that those responsible for the horrific terror inflicted that day are held accountable in a court of law, to ensure the record is clear as to who helped support, plan and carry out the violence that day,” they added.

During the October 7, 2023 attack, Hamas and several other militant groups stormed the Nova Music Festival and nearby communities in southern Israel, killed more than 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage. Nearly two years later, 148 hostages have been returned alive to Israel, but the Israeli government says 47 are still held captive inside Gaza. 25 of those remaining have been declared dead, while 20 are believed to be alive; the status of the others is uncertain.

Over the course of the war, Israeli forces have killed nearly 65,000 Palestinians and injured more than 164,000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. This week, Israel announced it had begun a ground incursion into Gaza City and an independent UN inquiry concluded for the first time that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, which its government has denied.

Iran, Syria and North Korea have been designated by the US State Department as “state sponsors of terrorism.” The designation is applied by the secretary of state to countries found to have “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.”

Foreign states are typically allowed immunity from prosecution in the US under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. But the law makes exceptions for state sponsors of terrorism, as well as for “personal injury or death that was caused by an act of torture, extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage taking” or “material support” of these activities by state officials.

In their statement, David and Hazel Brief said they hoped that the litigation would “help prevent attacks like these in the future, so that no other families have to go through losing a loved one as a result of such violence.”

Taiwan unveils first missile jointly with American

A low-cost autonomous cruise missile is displayed during the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition in Taipei on September 17, 2025. 

I-Hwa Cheng/AFP/Getty Images

Taipei, Taiwan — 

Taiwan has unveiled a prototype cruise missile, developed jointly with a US arms maker and set to be manufactured on the island, as it tries to build up its weapons industry to deter any possible military threats from China.

The government-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), Taiwan’s top arms manufacturer, showcased the “low-cost autonomous cruise missile” it developed together with Anduril Industries, a relative newcomer to the ranks of American defense contractors, ahead of the island’s largest defense expo that began Thursday.

China views Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to seize it – by force if necessary. Under leader Xi Jinping, China has intensified military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan, regularly sending fighter jets and warships, looking to squeeze its presence on the world stage.

In the face of the China threat, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te recently announced that Taiwan will raise defense spending to 5% of its GDP before 2030.

Adapted from Anduril’s Barracuda-500, an autonomous, low-cost loitering ammunition launched from aircraft that is undergoing tests by the US military, the new land-mobile missile can be used against targets at sea or on land. NCSIST did not give a range for the missile.

Taiwan aims to roll out the production line of the missile in the next year and a half, capping the cost per missile at approximately $216,000, NCSIST President Li Shih-chiang, told reporters on Wednesday.

“The entire supply chain of the missile will be in Taiwan. That is the overall direction of all future cooperation,” Li said.

The NCSIST also displayed a prototype of an underwater drone and an underwater autonomous mobile mine that it aims to jointly develop and produce with Anduril.

Washington is Taiwan’s main international backer and security guarantor and for decades has been the primary supplier of weapons to Taipei. In recent years, however, US deliveries have been slowed as demand for weapons worldwide has surged, straining American manufacturers.

CNN has reached out to the Pentagon and Anduril for comment.

A Chiang-Kong missile and the launcher, a new generation anti-ballistic missile air defense system developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), are displayed during the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition in Taipei on September 17, 2025. 

I-Hwa Cheng/AFP/Getty Images

Li, president of NCSIST, added that the institute will sign two contracts and four memorandums of understanding with six US and Canadian companies during the three-day defense trade show.

During a visit to Taiwan last month, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey hailed the island’s manufacturing capabilities and technological prowess.

“Taiwan is on the verge of a techno industrial renaissance in national defense, one that’s built on top of its techno industrial renaissance in consumer electronics, in industrial electronics, one that’s made Taiwan the envy of the world,” Luckey said.

China warns against interference

Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun lashed out at “external military interference” on Taiwan at an annual defense forum in Beijing on Thursday.

“We will never allow any separatist plot for Taiwan independence to succeed, and we stand ready to thwart any external military interference at any time,” Dong told defense officials, military personnel and scholars gathered at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum.

Dong also condemned “Cold War mentality, hegemonism and protectionism” – phrases that Beijing has long used to criticize the US – and called for countries to stand up against “bullying acts.”

Last week, Dong raised the issue of Taiwan – the reddest of red lines for Beijing – in his first call with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, warning that any attempt to use the island to contain China is “doomed to fail.”