Walmart will pause hiring candidates who require H-1B visas, the BBC understands, in response to the Trump administration’s new $100,000 (£74,000) fee that has roiled US employers.
US President Donald Trump last month signed an executive order imposing the fee for H-1B applicants, citing “abuse” of the programme for skilled foreign workers that undercuts the American workforce.
Walmart tops the list of retail chains that use the programme, with more than 2,000 H-1B visas approved in the first half of 2025.
The retail giant is “committed to hiring and investing in the best talent to serve our customers, while remaining thoughtful about our H-1B hiring approach,” a Walmart spokesperson said.
Walmart’s decision to pause H-1B hirings was first reported by Bloomberg News.
The retailer is the largest private employer in the US. It employs roughly 1.6 million people across the country. But while Walmart is the largest beneficiary of the H-1B visas in the retail sector, the programme is often associated with the giants of the US tech sector.
Amazon tops the list of beneficiaries, with more than 10,000 H-1B visas approved in the first half of 2025. Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google each secured more than 4,000 visas through the programme through June, according to US government data.
Startups, as well as smaller firms beyond tech, also employ workers through H-1B visas.
Trump’s order only applies to new visa requests in the programme and vows to restrict entry unless a payment is made.
Critics have long argued that H-1Bs undercut the American workforce, while supporters – including billionaire Elon Musk – argue it allows the US to attract top talent from around the world.
India dominates the H-1B programme, making up more than 70% of the recipients in recent years. China was the second-largest source, comprising about 12% of recipients.
“The company needs to decide… is the person valuable enough to have a $100,000-a-year payment to the government, or they should head home, and they should go hire an American,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said last month, when Trump signed the order imposing the $100,000 fee.
But business groups has voiced opposition to Trump’s order.
The US Chamber of Commerce last week filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. The fee will make it “cost-prohibitive” for US employers to use the H-1B programme, said Neil Bradley, the pro-business group’s chief policy officer.
The group argued in its complaint that if implemented, the fee would harm American businesses, forcing them to either increase their labor costs or hire fewer highly skilled employees.
The White House responded to the suit by calling the fee lawful and a “necessary, initial, incremental step towards necessary reforms” to the programme.
A new study co-led by the Batista Lab at the Ragon Institute and Scripps/IAVI shows that a single mRNA-based vaccine mix can jump-start the early steps toward several promising HIV-fighting antibodies at the same time. Because HIV is extremely…
Justin Moore: Shai-Hulud is a fast-moving supply chain attack that quickly affected hundreds of organizations. The attack targeted everyday development activities and trusted software processes to reach its targets, demonstrating just how quickly risk can move inside business operations.
MM: What makes this attack stand out?
JM: Unlike typical malware, Shai-Hulud spreads autonomously. Once the attackers gained access to a developer’s account, they used automation to insert malicious code across that developer’s other software packages and push the compromised versions live—spreading the threat across the software supply chain almost instantly. By combining automation with artificial intelligence, the attackers were able to generate, adapt, and deploy malicious code at scale, far faster than human operators could. This approach marks a shift in the threat landscape: AI-driven supply chain attacks are becoming more efficient, more scalable, and significantly harder to detect, accelerating every stage from initial compromise to evasion.
MM: What should CISOs take away from this research?
JM: Securing the developer environment should be top priority. The initial compromise of this attack likely starts with phishing a developer’s highly privileged account, which illustrates the importance of zero trust. Rotate all developer and cloud credentials immediately. Conduct a thorough audit of third-party software dependencies. Review developer accounts for unusual changes or unexpected public repositories. Multi-factor authentication is essential, but so is strong phishing awareness and educating teams on credential safety. Finally, treat vendor policies, incident response plans, and frequent supply chain risk reviews as ongoing leadership responsibilities, not just technical tasks.
Douglas FraserScotland business and economy editor
BBC
Julia Longbottom has been the UK’s ambassador to Japan since 2021
“Japan and the UK share the same interests,” says Julia Longbottom, Britain’s top woman in Tokyo.
“Two island nations, at different ends of the globe – it really matters for us that goods can flow freely and that we have access to markets around the world.”
Being a diplomatic diplomat, and a very successful one, the ambassador does not need to spell out the growing importance of those interests, where the world’s two biggest economies are clashing on that market access.
US President Donald Trump’s chaotic tariff regime has astonished Japan, where rules matter.
The key trading relationship for him is with China, and neither minds if second tier trading nations, such as Japan or the UK, get squeezed.
That makes more sense of Britain’s membership of the CPTPP “trans-Pacific” trading partnership.
It owes much to Japan’s founding role, and the Tokyo government was keen to see the UK admitted.
Getty Images
Sanae Takaichi has been elected Japan’s prime minister by its parliament, making her the first woman to hold the office
While the Japanese Parliament has just elected its first female prime minister, Ms Longbottom is this week on a mission to boost trade and investment.
But, on this occasion, she is visiting companies in Scotland rather than touring firms in Japan.
A new initiative by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has brought ambassadors back to the UK and put them to work on home turf.
The High Commissioner to Singapore was recently in Scotland, talking up prospects for investment in Grangemouth.
This is to highlight the service that can be provided for exporters.
It is also, concedes the Tokyo ambassador, an opportunity to learn more about the country she represents.
Nearly 40 years in the diplomatic service has seen her work most of that time overseas.
Her CV includes more junior roles in the Japanese capital but she has held the top job since 2021.
Ms Longbottom said: “The key part of our job is to represent our country – in my case, in Japan. But there are knowledge gaps to plug.
“The most important I can help to plug is helping people realise just how good we are in the UK – at industry, at advanced technologies, at renewable energies and the lead we’ve taken globally, and looking at the United Kingdom from the outside, at how respected we are.”
Heriot-Watt University
The National Robotarium in Edinburgh is the largest advanced research facility for robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) in the UK
It’s a rosy view of Britain, as you would expect from someone paid to promote its interests.
In economic terms, the ambassador is not looking at the malaise around the lack of growth, the problem of public services or the public finances, but about trade and investment opportunities.
Her ‘domestic roadshow’ is the 12th such UK short tour to be conducted by ambassadors and high commissioners.
It is taking in Aberdeen’s energy transition; Tayside’s gaming skills at 4J developer in Dundee; Arbikie gin and whisky distillery in Angus; the Edinburgh University super-computer project; and the capital’s robotarium at Heriot-Watt University.
Yasyuki Shibata is the European boss of Sumitomo Electric
The tour began on Monday in Easter Ross, where three Japanese investors are spending big on infrastructure for the anticipated boom in offshore wind power.
Sumitomo is building a £350m factory at Nigg, which should be making sub-sea cables by next September.
The first 15 Scots recruits to handle operations at the plant have just gone to Japan for six months of training.
“So far, so good” is a favourite phrase for the European boss of Sumitomo Electric, Yasyuki Shibata.
The vast factory has taken shape, the next stage is to move in machinery and then test it.
Next year, he plans an event for Scottish companies to persuade them to join his firm’s supply chain.
As the first such factory in Britain, any such local options need to be developed.
Businessman Yukinobu Nakano is also chair of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in London
Across the road, in the Port of Nigg, Highland-based Global Energy Group sold its 75% ownership share to its Japanese minority partner in July.
Mitsui & Co now has the controlling share, while another of the parent company’s subsidiaries, shipping division MOL, has 49%.
Yukinobu Nakano, president and chief executive of Mitsui & Co Europe, says they waited 13 years while wind power was showing promise but not sparking activity. That’s changing, he says.
He talks of “several hundreds of millions of pounds” of investment in Nigg.
The figure sounds vague, because the outcome depends on different scenarios playing out.
The brakes have been on offshore wind developments, due to considerable uncertainty about the sequence of consents and getting finance in place, while securing minimum price guarantees from the UK government’s seventh round of auctions.
For now, Nigg looks all but empty. The offshore wind power boom is taking a frustratingly long time to arrive.
That should change next month, when a three-year contract begins for assembling wind turbine components, mostly imported, which will then be floated out to Dogger Bank, in the southern North Sea.
According to Mr Nakano, the more significant investments, beyond assembly of other manufacturers’ components, will come if Mitsui can persuade its other divisions, which include steel and chemicals, to locate in Easter Ross and develop the manufacturing and service supply chain.
Port of Nigg
The Port of Nigg has been granted green freeport status
After being shown developments at Nigg by the new owners, Ms Longbottom puts the Japanese presence in Easter Ross in context,
She explained: “Corporate Japan is always looking for growth and what Scotland can offer is a real opportunity to grow in renewable energy.
“They see this as a place they can expand, with the scale of the further pipeline there is to come.
“They’re bringing the supply chain for the industry to the Port of Nigg.
“The more they have success, the more they can breed success by bringing others into the supply chain here at the port. And that’s jobs and money coming into the local economy.”
This is a new generation of Japanese investors.
The last wave came with the Silicon Glen years, in assembling electronic consumer goods in the later years of last century.
That generated many jobs when and where they were needed, at a time of old industries closing down and when women were entering the workforce.
It also brought new skills in management and manufacturing which benefited the economy more widely, as workers moved on.
Getty Images
Scotch whisky makes up a third of UK exports to Japan each year
The other part of the relationship is in traded goods.
“Starting with whisky, we’ve got trusted and high quality brands,” says the ambassador.
“That’s something the Japanese market really appreciates. Scotch whisky makes up a third of UK exports to Japan each year.”
She talks of the potential to sell more textiles to Japan, where the standard school uniform for girls is tartan.
Seafood is a staple of the Japanese diet, and the country is now second biggest market for Scottish mackerel, the species which is by far the biggest tonnage and value of the country’s fishing industry.
Brexit was clearly a big challenge to explain to Japanese companies and its government.
Japan had invested in the UK as a doorway to the EU market, and all that was threatened.
With new EU trading rules, both the ambassador and Mr Nakano, chair of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in London, think the relationship has calmed.
He talks of Japanese banks wanting to relocate to EU cities after Brexit, but pulling back when they realised the talent pool and banking centre they would be leaving.
“The UK and Japan are partners that really respect each other in basic science, translational science, quantum computing and AI,” says Ms Longbottom.
“These are advanced and strategic technologies both countries care about for the future and where these partners trust each other.”
Trust. There, again, is a contrast with some other major trading partners the ambassador is not mentioning.
She returns to Tokyo next month, after a holiday in India.
Ms Longbottom will be there to watch the England women’s cricket team, now into the semi-final of the ICC women’s world cup.
