President Donald Trump has extended H-1B visa restrictions on foreign workers for another year, maintaining a $100,000 fee requirement that was initially set to expire this month, the White House said on Sept. 18.

The H-1B visa program allows U.S. companies to temporarily employ foreign workers for jobs that require “the theoretical and practical application of a body of specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent in the specific specialty.”

Trump initially imposed the fee last September through a proclamation aimed at curbing what he said was the abuse of the visa program that has reduced job opportunities for American workers. The fee was an increase from the previous baseline fees of $2,000 and $5,000 for the visas.

The White House said in a statement on Sept. 18 that the fee will remain in effect until Sept. 21, 2027.

“The restrictions enacted by the 2025 proclamation have proven to be highly effective but the underlying conditions necessitating the restrictions persist,” it stated.

The White House said the Homeland Security Department and the State Department may deny entry of H-1B workers whose petitions are not accompanied or supplemented by the required $100,000 payment.

The restriction does not apply to H-1B workers whose employment the Homeland Security secretary determines is “in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States.”

Meanwhile, legal challenges over the fee’s legality continue.

A federal judge ruled on June 8 that the temporary fee was illegal and blocked the federal government from collecting it. A Boston-based appeals court is reviewing the decision after the administration appealed.

Trump also issued an executive order on Sept. 18 directing the secretaries of State, Labor, and Homeland Security to enhance scrutiny of H-1B visa applications to reduce the risk of American workers being laid off, including by considering recent layoffs at companies that petition for H-1B nonimmigrants.

The order directs the Small Business Administration to provide data on wages, industrial conditions, and employment specialization related to the H-1B program.

“The H-1B nonimmigrant visa program was created to identify uniquely skilled and highly specialized foreign temporary workers to strategically supplement the United States economy,” Trump wrote in his order.

“Instead, the program has been widely abused by certain employers, third-party placement groups, and outsourcing firms to undercut and displace the supply of skilled United States labor.”

Trump said that many employers have laid off highly skilled American workers and replaced them with “large numbers of H-1B workers who are often lower-skilled and lower-paid.”

A White House fact sheet states that H-1B registrations by major IT outsourcing companies have declined by 92 percent since the payment requirement was introduced last year.