What Would a $100,000 H-1B Fee Do?

IN DECEMBER 2024, a battle erupted between the tech right and the nativist right over the H-1B visa program, which allows American employers to hire foreign workers in specialty fields. When President-elect Donald Trump weighed in, he threw his support behind H-1B defenders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. “I've always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” he told the New York Post. “I've been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times.”

- Fiona Harrigan

Fast forward to September 2025, when Trump announced that new H-1B visa applications would be subject to a $100,000 fee (though he reiterated his support for the program just two months later). Touted in a White House press release as a way to address the “systematic abuse of the program” that has “undermined both our economic and national security,” the fee will ultimately harm American companies and communities.

American tech companies rely heavily on the H-1B visa and were immediately some of the most vocal opponents of the fee. Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple were four of the top five H-1B beneficiaries in FY 2025, reports