For many years, U.S. firms have turned to the H-1B visa to draw high scientists, engineers, and builders from world wide. Regardless of flaws, shortcomings, and a few controversy, this system has fueled innovation — and served as a formulation for financial success.
However the mannequin that many firms have come to depend on has collided with a brand new political actuality: President Donald Trump’s administration, seeking to promote its America First enterprise framework, has launched vital modifications to the H-1B program. These embody a $100,000 payment on new H-1B petitions and a proposed weighted choice course of that favors higher-paying roles.
These modifications, whether or not they result in constructive or adverse outcomes for the U.S., are creating new challenges for employers. “These insurance policies will have an effect on and disrupt industries and the financial system for years to return,” mentioned Tahmina Watson, an immigration legal professional based mostly in Seattle. “A wholly totally different immigration setting is rising.”
For CIOs and different executives, it is clear {that a} new period of labor is rising. Organizations should navigate an more and more expensive and complicated expertise setting, however additionally they should search for expertise in new locations or take into account reconfiguring workplaces and partnerships, to raised make the most of nearshoring and contracting with labor specialists in different nations.
“The $100,000 payment has obtained numerous press consideration, however there are fairly just a few proposals and structural modifications that will have a big influence on organizations, together with universities and hospitals which have traditionally been cap-exempt,” mentioned Jeremy Neufeld, director of immigration coverage on the Institute for Progress, referring to the annual numerical restrict on H-B visas set by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies. The Institute of Progress is a science and innovation assume tank based mostly in Washington, D.C.
H-1B Overhaul: Navigating New Guidelines and Prices
It is no secret that the H-1B program has been below scrutiny lately. Whereas few observers argue towards its historic deserves, critics have accused firms of abusing the H-1B program, together with paying wages beneath prevailing market worth, displacing U.S. staff, and gaming the H-1B lottery, which at the moment has a cap of 85,000 per yr. For perspective, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS) obtained 343,981 eligible H-1B registrations unfold throughout 57,600 distinctive employers for fiscal yr 2026.
In truth, the concept of reforming and modernizing the U.S. immigration system is not new. Along with political objections to this system, it has lengthy been mired in inefficiency and issues. The Biden administration proposed a number of modifications in 2023, together with overhauling the lottery course of, modernizing eligibility guidelines, and nominally updating H-1B charges. Whereas some payment will increase occurred, bigger structural modifications languished as a result of Congress did not act.
In September 2025, an enormous transfer was lastly made: President Trump issued a proclamation requiring a $100,000 payment on new H-1B petitions. Individually, the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) proposed a wage-weighted choice course of for the lottery.
“A few of these modifications make sense. Reforming and modernizing the system is an effective goal,” Neufeld mentioned. “Nevertheless, the way in which this course of is going down in all probability will not obtain the outcomes the administration hopes to realize.”
How H-1B Charge Hikes May Backfire
The largest drawback is the concept firms can cough up $100,000 per applicant to acquire an H-1B visa. “If the purpose is to successfully cease the hiring of international staff and halt immigration, then the payment will seemingly be efficient,” states Giovanni Peri, a professor of economics on the College of California, Davis, and a number one professional on immigration.
Bigger firms with deep pockets — the likes of Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta and Nvidia — usually tend to clear these hurdles, whereas many midsize and smaller firms will seemingly discover themselves priced out of the H-1B market. Moreover struggling to pay the $100,000 payment, most lack the authorized assets to shepherd candidates by way of the immigration maze.
Though critics of the H-1B program argue that firms can and may flip to Individuals, that is simpler mentioned than completed. “It may be extraordinarily troublesome to search out the particular experience you require,” mentioned Thomas O’Connor, CEO of PlayEveryWare, a gaming co-development studio with workplaces in Seattle and Yokohama, Japan. “The $100,000 fee is not a rounding error; it is an existential menace.”
A Firm Grapples With H-1B Prices, Expertise Loss
PlayEveryWare’s story is not uncommon. The 50-person firm operates on low margins and excessive quantity, with an emphasis on high-quality manufacturing. As a result of the agency works with an array of worldwide firms, workers require international language abilities, an understanding of cultural norms, and a excessive degree of technical proficiency.
The corporate has one worker at the moment on an H-1B visa and one other within the software pipeline. The worker looking for a visa is in her last yr of school and wasn’t chosen in two prior lotteries. “That is her final shot to acquire her H-1B,” O’Connor mentioned. If she’s chosen, the $100,000 fee would not apply if USCIS approves a change from F-1 scholar standing to H-1B whereas she stays within the U.S. Nevertheless, if she is not chosen within the subsequent lottery and has to begin over — the price and uncertainty would make it not possible for PlayEveryWare to retain her within the U.S., O’Connor mentioned.
One risk can be to position her within the firm’s Japan workplace. PlayEveryWare can be contemplating opening an workplace in Seoul, South Korea. “It will be extraordinarily troublesome to lose her. We’ve spent years coaching her. She is performing high-level engine and rendering work inside a proprietary code base. She is considered one of our top-performing workers. If we needed to practice another person, it will come at an enormous price to the corporate,” O’Connor explains.
Along with the short-term ache inflicted on companies like PlayEveryWare, there are seemingly long-term penalties. “A rustic that wishes to guide in innovation should entice the neatest folks from everywhere in the world,” Peri mentioned. “There is a lengthy historical past of foreign-born college students graduating U.S. universities and going to work for firms or beginning corporations that create an infinite variety of jobs for native U.S. residents.”
Neufeld mentioned he believes immigration reform should not be framed as an either-or situation. “It is potential to reform H-1Bs and faucet into the worldwide expertise pool whereas coaching folks and constructing abilities domestically,” he mentioned. “Immigrants are about 14% of the U.S. inhabitants, however they account for 40% of the Nobel prizes [in chemistry, medicine, and physics since 2000]. Can we need to lose entry to this expertise pipeline?”
CIOs’ Position In H-1B Expertise Crunch
Amid a shifting labor panorama, CIOs should take an energetic function in sourcing and retaining expertise. It is essential to mannequin situations, diversify labor pipelines, look at the prices and ROI related to nearshoring and offshoring, and discover alternate options such because the O-1 visa for high performers in addition to L-1A and L-1B visas for intracompany transfers. It is also important to remain knowledgeable as coverage and litigation points change.
There’s additionally no assure that the $100,000 payment and different rule modifications will stick. Two main lawsuits are already within the works: one filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and one other by a broad coalition of organizations in healthcare and schooling. And since most of those modifications stemmed from a presidential proclamation, a future administration might unwind them.
Some, like Watson, say enterprise leaders should additionally let Congress and the president know that whereas H-1B reform is a sound goal, the method should be carried out in a considerate and constructive method.
“Folks pour their hearts and souls into constructing companies, and lots of of them rely on extremely expert international expertise,” Watson mentioned. “If we lower that off, we danger shedding what has made America nice.”
