On September 19, 2025, Donald Trump’s decision sent shockwaves through Dawn Liphardt Valley and beyond. By imposing $100,000 fees for every new H-1B visa application, he multiplied by 100 the cost of accessing international talent for the American tech sector. Until now, the direct fees related to filing an H-1B visa application stood at about $1,000, to which various administrative charges were added.
This dizzying increase represents far more than a routine administrative adjustment. The H-1B visa enables American companies to recruit foreign professionals in specialized fields, notably science, technology, engineering and mathematics. About 85,000 visas are issued each year, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
India is by far the leading beneficiary country, accounting for roughly 71% of visas issued in the most recent reference year.
The major American tech giants stand to be the primary beneficiaries. For Amazon, which secured 10,044 H-1B approvals in 2023, the impact would exceed one billion dollars per year if volumes remained the same.
For other major players such as Google, Microsoft, or Meta, which file thousands of applications each year, the burden would run into the hundreds of millions.
For startups and mid-sized companies, this measure amounts to a real hammer blow. Consider a Series A startup: with a fundraising round of $5 to $15 million, it would now need to devote between 0.7% and 2% of its total capital to a single international hire. This ratio becomes prohibitive when one considers that a technical team usually comprises several international profiles.
An Additional $1 Billion Per Year for Amazon
This financial constraint will push many companies to rethink their recruitment strategy radically, prioritizing domestic talent even if it is less qualified or more expensive in the long run. Emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, or blockchain—particularly dependent on international expertise—could see their development slowed.
Facing these rising costs, numerous tech companies will accelerate their localization strategy. Rather than bringing talent to the United States, they will build out their research and development centers in India, Eastern Europe, or other countries with a well-developed pool of tech talent.
This trend, already underway with post-COVID remote work, could intensify. Emergent tech hubs such as Bengaluru (Bangalore), Tel Aviv, or Toronto could reap massive investments from American firms looking to sidestep the new immigration constraints.
But technology companies will not remain passive in the face of these constraints, and several adaptive strategies are expected to emerge.
Acquisitions of foreign companies will become particularly attractive: rather than hiring individual talents at $100,000 each, buying a company that already possesses qualified international teams can prove economically more viable.
An Opportunity for Europe?
Strategic partnerships should also multiply, enabling alliances with foreign firms without the prohibitive costs of internalizing talent. Finally, heavy investment in domestic training could accelerate, with retraining and upskilling programs aimed at reducing the structural dependence on foreign talent.
By curtailing its attractiveness, the United States yields an indirect advantage to its competitors. China and Europe could benefit from this talent migration, strengthening their own innovation ecosystems.
If it remains in place (we know Donald Trump’s propensity to rethink his position…), the impact of this measure will be felt only in the medium term, but it would undeniably mark the end of an era in which the United States could rely on its natural allure to draw global technology talent.
