The New Visa Fee Could Reshape High-Skilled Immigration

The technology industry will bear the heaviest burden of this policy change. Companies like Amazon, which had over 10,000 H-1B visas approved in the first half of 2025, face potential annual costs exceeding $1 billion if they maintain their current hiring patterns. For smaller technology firms and startups, where H-1B workers often comprise a significant percentage of their technical workforce, the fee could prove prohibitive. I anticipate that many tech companies will accelerate their offshore development strategies, establishing or expanding engineering centers in countries such as India, Canada, and Eastern European nations, where they can access similar talent without visa restrictions.

The healthcare sector, particularly hospitals and medical research institutions, relies heavily on H-1B visas for specialized physicians, researchers, and medical technicians. The financial impact will be especially acute for academic medical centers and rural hospitals that already operate on thin margins. Many of these institutions may find it financially impossible to sponsor foreign medical graduates, exacerbating physician shortages in underserved areas.

Major investment banks and financial institutions have historically used H-1B visas for quantitative analysts, risk managers, and specialized financial professionals. While these firms may have deeper pockets than healthcare institutions, the fee will force them to be far more selective in their hiring practices, potentially accelerating the trend toward expanding their operations in financial centers such as London, Singapore, and Toronto.

IT consulting firms, particularly those with significant Indian and Chinese operations, face an existential challenge. Many companies have built business models around bringing specialized consultants to work on client projects in the United States. The new fee structure may force these companies to restructure their entire approach, potentially shifting toward more remote work arrangements or significantly increasing client costs.

Companies may shift toward a “premium talent only” approach, where the $100,000 fee is justified by hiring only the most exceptional candidates, such as those with advanced degrees from top-tier institutions, proven track records of innovation, or highly specialized skills. This strategy requires developing more sophisticated talent assessment capabilities and may necessitate offering significantly higher compensation packages to justify the visa costs.

The O-1 visa for individuals with extraordinary ability becomes increasingly attractive, despite its higher evidentiary requirements. Unlike H-1B visas, O-1 visas don’t have annual caps and allow for more flexible employment arrangements. L-1 visas for intracompany transfers remain viable for multinational corporations, though they require the foreign worker to have been employed abroad by the company for at least one year.

Companies are already exploring establishing Canadian subsidiaries or partnerships to access talent through Canada’s more favorable immigration programs. Long term, foreign workers who gain Canadian citizenship – which requires three years of residence – may become eligible for TN visa status under NAFTA provisions, allowing them to work in the United States without H-1B restrictions.

The post-pandemic normalization of remote work provides another avenue. Companies can maintain foreign workers as international employees or contractors, though this approach requires careful attention to tax implications, labor law compliance, and data security requirements. Some firms are looking at establishing “nearshore” development centers in countries with favorable tax treaties and strong intellectual property protections.