Trump's steep H-1B visa fees will do more harm than goodhttps://en.majalla.com/node/327554/business-economy/trumps-steep-h-1b-visa-fees-will-do-more-harm-good
Trump's steep H-1B visa fees will do more harm than good
The president has slapped a one-off six-figure fee on visa petitions for specialist occupations seeking to work in the US. This will have huge repercussions for both industries and countries.
Andrew Harnik / AFP
President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders establishing the “Trump Gold Card” and introducing a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas on September 19, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Trump's steep H-1B visa fees will do more harm than good
The world of commerce is beginning to grapple with the implications of US President Donald Trump’s proclamation on 19 September that foreign professionals applying for US working visas will now have to pay $100,000 to get one.
The punitive one-time levy on new H-1B ‘speciality occupation’ applicants—who until now have paid a fee of $1,500—took effect from 21 September. It aims to “protect American workers” and clamp down on the system’s “abuse,” but some warn that it risks throttling innovation, jolting corporate hiring, and rerouting skilled migration away from the US. After 24 hours of confusion, the White House clarified that the levy applies only to future applicants outside the US, not to current visa holders or renewals.
The sudden change has ignited debate about competitiveness, workforce strategy, and the continued ability of the US to attract scarce specialist skills at scale. For some countries, the stakes are high—India alone accounted for 71% of H-1B approvals last year—and big tech firms, such as Amazon and Microsoft, have built entire talent pipelines around the high-demand route.
Since 2004, the US Congress has capped H-1B selections at $85,000 per year. According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), there were 359,000 applications last year, meaning that these visas were four times over-subscribed. The new $100,000 fee is designed to reshape employer behaviour.
The move has ignited debate about competitiveness, workforce strategy, and the continued ability of the US to attract scarce specialist skills at scale
Spamming the system
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said its purpose was to prevent people and companies from "spamming the system," encouraging the hiring of recent American graduates instead. Supporters of the huge fee argue that the US has been subsidising companies to undercut domestic wages. Critics say it penalises growth industries that cannot fill the roles domestically.
In theory, large tech firms could absorb a six-figure toll for critical hires. If a machine-learning researcher from abroad can expect to earn a seven-figure salary in the US, a $100,000 one-off filing fee is painful but payable. The calculus differs for jobs with mid-level skills, and for smaller firms such as tech start-ups. These engines of innovation and growth often rely on H-1B applicants to plug many of the hard-to-find roles needed to power their early development phase.
For smaller firms that were already struggling to compete on salaries, this one-off $100,000 levy could make the difference. As if to demonstrate the point, the largest H-1B beneficiaries from 2024 included Amazon, Tata, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Google. These companies run global recruitment machines and can reallocate budgets, but even they are now auditing workforce locations.
More traditional industries—such as manufacturing, healthcare, and engineering—often recruit single, niche candidates whose absence stalls product timelines or regulatory milestones. For them, a $100,000 fee could be the difference between a project getting the green light or not.
A team of talented young Indian engineers, working for a technology research and development agency.
Last year, more than seven in every ten H-1B applicants came from India, while more than one in ten came from China. Both countries have deep talent pools in the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). India's government and trade bodies have flagged the "humanitarian consequences" of the new fee (including family disruption and uncertainty) as well as the operational shock to firms running onshore US projects.
Unintended effects
The policy's aim is to protect domestic labour, but its unintended effects may be offshoring and market share leakage in high-value industries. If a marginal hire becomes $100,000 more expensive in the US, firms may accelerate their build-abroad strategies. Teams in places like Toronto, London, Bangalore, Singapore, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, or Dubai could benefit, with research and development (R&D) re-routed to Europe or the Gulf, where Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar offer five- and 10-year visas to those with skills in areas such as AI, fintech, and advanced manufacturing.
There is a national security angle to Trump's move. Critical industries such as advanced computing, semiconductor tooling, synthetic biology, and defence technology all rely on scarce skills. As the US and China try to outpace each other technologically, even small frictions compound. It would be ironic if a policy designed to protect wages ends up eroding America's innovative edge.
Most think Trump's visa fees will be challenged in court, with judges asked to consider both its scope and implementation. In the meantime, hiring decisions may be put on hold, with workers, firms, and policymakers asking: what now? For prospective applicants, their employer will need to assign exceptional strategic value to the role. This may raise the bar too high. Many are expected to pivot to Canada, the UK, or the Gulf, where visa processing is faster, cheaper, and more predictable.
A pedestrian passes a Saudi tourism advert on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai.
Seeking alternatives
Others will seek different pathways into the US, such as L-1 intracompany transfers, or the O-1 route for extraordinary ability, but these are tightly defined and unevenly accessible, so many will now look to reshape graduate pipelines around domestic hiring, but this could take years. Further guidance and court orders are due in the coming months.
To Trump's fans, he is protecting American jobs and ending the cost-cutting corporate misuse of visas. To tech leaders and universities, this is an own goal, because H-1B workers fill gaps, seed companies, and train American teams. The very top tier of global talent will likely still come to the US, but for thousands of skilled engineers, analysts, and scientists who power products, projects, and modernisation, this could be a game-changer.
In a world where other economies are competing for the same people, price is policy. The US has signalled that it wants fewer foreign skilled workers. To fill the gap, Americans will need to be trained at an unprecedented speed and scale. In the meantime, the US can expect slower innovation, more offshoring, and a quieter, costlier race for the future.
