Trump Announces Price Increase of Popular US Visa from $1,500 to $100,000

Late afternoon on September 19, 2025, corporate email systems across America’s tech sector lit up with urgent messages. Employees with H-1B visas received stark warnings from their employers. Stay in the United States. Do not leave the country. If abroad, return immediately before midnight Saturday.

Some travelers already seated on planes preparing for departure made split-second decisions. They grabbed their bags and deplaned, abandoning trips to see family members they hadn’t visited in months or years. Fear drove these choices, but confusion reigned supreme. Nobody seemed certain what exactly was happening or how bad things might get.

President Donald Trump had just signed an executive order that would fundamentally reshape America’s skilled worker visa program. Companies sponsoring foreign workers would now face a fee that jumped from roughly $1,500 to $100,000 per petition. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared alongside Trump, making statements about annual payments that sent shockwaves through boardrooms. Within hours, contradictory messages from various government officials deepened the chaos.

Families found themselves torn between continents. Workers cancelled long-planned vacations. Companies scrambled to understand rules that would take effect in less than 48 hours. September 21 became a deadline that felt more like a countdown to an uncertain future for hundreds of thousands of people.

From Affordable to Astronomical in One Signature

H-1B visas allow American companies to sponsor foreign workers with specialized skills for temporary employment in the United States. Software engineers, doctors, researchers, architects, and financial analysts make up the bulk of recipients. Nearly 65% work in computer-related jobs according to 2023 data.

Congress caps new H-1B visas at 85,000 per year, with 65,000 going to general applicants and another 20,000 reserved for workers holding advanced degrees from American universities. Demand far exceeds supply. Applications for the next fiscal year reached about 359,000, creating a lottery system where most applicants face rejection regardless of qualifications.

Until Trump’s executive order, employers paid various administrative fees totaling around $1,500 to $5,000 per petition, depending on company size. Costs remained manageable even for smaller firms and startups. September 19 changed everything. A $100,000 fee represented a price increase of roughly 2,000% to 6,500% depending on previous fee brackets.

Visas typically last three years with possible extensions to six years total. Initial government statements suggested employers might pay $100,000 annually for each year of the visa, potentially reaching $600,000 per worker. Later clarifications reduced this to a one-time payment, but damage from the confusion had already spread.

When Your Boss Tells You Not to Board That Plane

JPMorgan sent internal memos to employees holding H-1B visas with clear instructions. Remain in the United States. Avoid international travel until the government issues clear guidance. Workers currently abroad should return before midnight Saturday when new fee structures take effect.

Amazon, Microsoft, and other tech giants issued similar warnings according to internal emails reviewed by news organizations. Hours mattered. Minutes counted. Employees rushed to book last-minute flights back to America, paying premium prices for tickets that would get them across borders before the deadline.

San Francisco Chronicle reported people already seated on departing flights made gut-wrenching choices. They gathered their belongings and left planes, choosing caution over seeing loved ones. Better to miss a family wedding than risk being locked out of the country where they lived and worked.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs issued a formal response highlighting the human cost. Government officials noted the new measure would likely have “humanitarian consequences by way of the disruption caused for families.” Professionals found themselves unable to visit aging parents or attend important family events. Workers who had built lives in America over years suddenly faced walls separating them from relatives abroad.

Nasscom, India’s leading IT industry trade body, expressed alarm about the rushed timeline. “A one-day deadline creates considerable uncertainty for businesses, professionals, and students across the world,” the organization stated.

Tech Giants Face a Multimillion-Dollar Bill

Amazon emerged as the biggest sponsor of H-1B workers for the fiscal year 2025, employing over 10,000 people with the visa. Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Google, Cognizant Technology Solutions, JPMorgan Chase, and Walmart followed in the rankings according to government statistics.

Simple math reveals the scale of potential costs. Amazon alone could face over $1 billion in fees if all 10,000 workers required new petitions subject to the charge. Microsoft and Meta, each with over 5,000 H-1B visa approvals, would owe $500 million or more. Even mid-sized companies with dozens of H-1B workers were suddenly confronted with multimillion-dollar expenses.

Stock markets responded. Cognizant Technology Solutions, an IT services company relying extensively on H-1B visa holders, closed down nearly 5% on the day of the announcement. American-listed shares of Indian tech firms Infosys and Wipro fell between 2% and 5%. Investors recognized the policy would hit these companies particularly hard.

Large corporations with deep pockets might absorb the costs, though not without pain. Smaller competitors faced existential questions about whether they could continue operating under the new rules.

Main Street Tech Firms Get Priced Out Completely

Tahmina Watson, founding attorney at Watson Immigration Law, works primarily with small businesses and startups. Her clients lack the financial reserves of Amazon or Microsoft. She warned the ruling could prove fatal for many companies in her practice. “Almost everyone’s going to be priced out. This $100,000 as an entry point is going to have a devastating impact,” Watson explained.

Small and medium-sized companies often hire foreign workers because they cannot find qualified Americans to fill positions. Watson noted these employers turn to international talent only after exhausting domestic recruitment options. “When employers sponsor foreign talent, more often than not, they’re doing that because they have not been able to fulfil those positions,” she added.

Startups operating on tight budgets and venture capital funding find $100,000 fees prohibitive. Young companies with limited revenue cannot justify spending that amount per worker. Many will simply stop participating in the H-1B lottery altogether, losing access to global talent that might have driven innovation.

Jorge Lopez, chair of the immigration and global mobility practice group at Littler Mendelson PC, predicted broader consequences. A $100,000 fee “will put the brakes on American competitiveness in the tech sector and all industries,” he argued. Some companies might consider establishing operations outside the United States, though executing such moves presents serious practical challenges.

India Bears the Brunt of Policy Shift

Indian nationals accounted for 71% of approved H-1B beneficiaries last year, according to government data. China came in a distant second at 11.7%. Any major policy change affecting H-1B visas disproportionately impacts Indian workers and their families.

Beyond financial costs, India’s government highlighted social consequences. Families face separation. Children grow up without seeing grandparents. Workers miss weddings, funerals, and other life events that cannot be postponed or replicated. Indian officials expressed hope that American authorities would address these humanitarian disruptions.

Indian tech companies with major American operations also felt pressure. Tata, Infosys, Wipro, and other firms rely on the ability to move talented employees between countries. Restrictions on worker mobility complicate business operations and strategic planning.

Professional networks connecting Indian workers in America to opportunities back home suddenly faced new friction. Brain circulation that benefited both countries by sharing knowledge and expertise became harder to maintain when workers feared leaving the United States even temporarily.

Annual Fee or One-Time Payment? Nobody Seemed Sure

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters on Friday that companies would pay $100,000 per year for each of the six years an H-1B visa could last. “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,” Lutnick stated.

Calculations suggested total costs per worker could reach $600,000 over six years. Companies ran worst-case scenario analyses. CFOs worked through weekend hours trying to model budget impacts. HR departments fielded panicked questions from employees uncertain about their futures.

Saturday brought different messages. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt used social media to announce that the $100,000 fee would be a one-time payment, not an annual charge. Officials emphasized the proclamation only applied to future applicants in the February 2026 lottery who were currently outside the United States.

Current visa holders could continue traveling internationally. Extensions and renewals for people already working in America would not trigger the new fee. Workers who participated in the 2025 lottery remained exempt regardless of where they currently lived.

Mixed signals amplified confusion rather than resolving it. Companies and workers spent the weekend parsing contradictory statements, trying to determine which government official spoke with authority. Lawyers worked overtime advising clients based on incomplete information that kept changing.

Who Actually Pays This Fee and When

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services eventually provided detailed guidance on October 20, 2025, clarifying when employers must pay the $100,000 fee. Impacted petitions include those filed on or after September 21 for individuals outside the United States who lack valid H-1B visas.

Petitions requesting consular processing, port of entry notification, or pre-flight inspection for beneficiaries inside the United States also trigger the fee. If USCIS finds an H-1B employee ineligible for a change of status, amendment, or extension because they lack valid immigration status, the fee applies. Employees who depart the United States before petition adjudication face the charge as well.

Exemptions cover all H-1B visas issued or petitions filed before September 21, even if decisions come later. Current and active H-1B visa holders traveling internationally remain unaffected. Petitions requesting a change of status from F-1 or J-1 visas, amendments for material job changes, or extensions for employees inside the United States are exempt from the fee.

Workers who receive USCIS petition approval can leave the country and apply for new H-1B visa stamps without triggering the payment. USCIS created an exception process for “extraordinarily rare” circumstances where the Secretary of Homeland Security determines the worker’s employment serves the national interest, no qualified American is available, the worker poses no security risk, and requiring payment would undermine U.S. interests.

Brain Drain Fears and Economic Alarm Bells

Economists warned about long-term consequences extending beyond immediate costs. Deedy Das, partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, argued that adding new fees “creates disincentive to attract the world’s smartest talent to the U.S.” Countries compete for skilled workers. Making America less attractive risks sending top talent to Canada, Europe, or Asia instead.

eMarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman framed the tradeoff starkly. “In the short term, Washington may collect a windfall; in the long term, the U.S. risks taxing away its innovation edge, trading dynamism for short-sighted protectionism,” Goldman predicted.

America’s position in the artificial intelligence race with China depends partly on attracting global AI talent. High fees could push valuable researchers and engineers toward Chinese tech companies or European startups. Innovation clusters in places where talented people gather. Policies that scatter that talent weaken American competitiveness.

Some analysts suggested companies might move high-value work overseas rather than paying fees to bring workers to America. Offshoring defeats the purpose of immigration restrictions aimed at protecting American jobs. Workers end up employed by American companies but based in foreign countries, beyond the reach of U.S. labor protections.

Do Foreign Workers Really Steal American Jobs?

Critics of the H-1B program argue it allows firms to suppress wages and sideline qualified Americans. Some employers have exploited the system to hold down labor costs, disadvantaging domestic workers. Trump’s executive order cited these abuses as justification for the fee increase.

Foreign STEM workers in the United States more than doubled between 2000 and 2019 to nearly 2.5 million, even as overall STEM employment only increased 44.5% during that period. Critics see evidence that foreign workers displaced Americans who could have filled those positions.

Supporters, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, himself a naturalized citizen who previously held an H-1B visa, counter that the program brings in talent essential for filling gaps and keeping firms competitive. Unemployment rates remain low in occupations that hire large numbers of H-1B workers, suggesting demand exceeds supply.

Before filing petitions, employers must attest on Department of Labor labor condition applications that hiring foreign workers will not harm wages and working conditions for similarly employed Americans. Companies must provide existing workers notice of plans to hire H-1B employees. Studies have found that H-1B workers complement rather than replace domestic employment.

What Comes Next for Companies and Workers

Employers face difficult decisions about how to proceed under the new rules. Some companies will pay the fees for workers they consider essential, absorbing costs as a business expense. Others will reduce H-1B hiring or eliminate it, relying instead on domestic recruitment or offshore operations.

Workers caught between countries must weigh the risks of international travel against personal needs to visit family. Many choose caution, postponing trips indefinitely rather than testing whether they can return. Long separations from loved ones exact psychological and emotional tolls that statistics cannot capture.

Universities and research institutions worry about recruiting international graduate students and postdoctoral researchers if pathways to American employment become prohibitively expensive. Scientific progress depends on global collaboration and talent mobility. Barriers to employment discourage talented students from choosing American schools.

Future policy changes remain possible. Legal challenges could overturn parts or all of the executive order. New legislation from Congress might reshape H-1B rules differently from Trump’s proclamation. Presidential elections bring policy shifts. Workers and employers navigate the present while uncertainty clouds the future.