WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Friday requiring companies to pay $100,000 per year for each H-1B worker visa, in a sweeping overhaul of the program that has long supplied foreign talent to America’s tech sector.

“We need workers. We need great workers. And this pretty much ensures that that's what's going to happen," Trump said in the Oval Office during the signing.

The proclamation, released by the White House, said the new rules aim to curb what the administration described as “systemic abuse” of the visa program by companies replacing American workers with lower-cost foreign labor.

“The large-scale replacement of American workers ... has undermined both our economic and national security,” it stated.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, standing alongside Trump, said the steep new fee is intended to deter companies from overreliance on foreign labor. “Stop bringing in people to take our jobs — that’s our policy here,” he said.

The change represents the administration’s latest effort to tighten immigration controls, and analysts say it could have far-reaching effects on industries that depend heavily on H-1B visa holders. — Agencies