Companies are absolutely going to start treating visa renewals like budget line items now. Trump just slapped a $100,000 H1B fee on top of everything else, effective immediately. No warning, no grace period.
The Real Costs Are Insane
The $100,000 fee is just the government part. Immigration lawyers are already raising their rates because of the chaos:
- $100,000 government fee (the new bullshit part)
- $15,000-25,000 legal fees (lawyers kept raising their prices when I wasn't looking)
- $5,000-10,000 internal costs (HR time, paperwork, whatever else they charge for)
- 3-6 months of uncertainty (during which your engineer might just give up and leave)
- Risk of rejection (no refunds, start over next year)
So we're talking $120,000-135,000 per application. That's more than most engineers make in a year.
This Is Going to Destroy People
H1B renewals used to cost companies maybe $8,000-10,000 total. Finance teams barely blinked at approving them. Now you're asking for $120,000+ and suddenly every visa renewal becomes a major budget decision.
Engineers who thought their renewals were routine are about to get called into HR for "strategic conversations about career options" and bullshit about "exploring remote opportunities." Companies will frame it as budget constraints, not immigration policy, but we all know what's really happening.
The Startup Death Sentence
This fee increase will absolutely devastate startups. Early-stage companies operating on $2M Series A funding just lost the ability to hire international talent. Period.
When your entire engineering budget is $800,000 annually, you can't drop $120,000 on a single visa application. That's 15% of your engineering spend on paperwork for one person.
FAANG companies will absorb this cost because they have infinite money and already pay $300,000+ salaries. Google dropping an extra $100,000 on a visa is a rounding error. But for the rest of us? This just created a two-tier system where only mega-corps can afford international talent.
The Immediate Panic Response
Companies are scrambling right now because the fee applies to applications submitted after September 21. That's immediately. No grace period, no grandfather clause.
If your company had H-1B applications in progress on Friday, they got submitted with the old fee. If they planned to submit on Monday? Congratulations, you just got $96,000 more expensive overnight.
I'm watching Slack channels where people are asking if they should look for jobs in Canada or remote positions with European companies. The smart ones started updating their resumes on Friday afternoon.
The Layoff Excuse Companies Needed
Here's the cynical reality: some companies will use this as cover for layoffs they already wanted to do. "We'd love to keep you, but the visa costs..." becomes a convenient excuse that sounds policy-driven rather than performance-driven. The SHRM analysis confirms this will impact tech sector employment significantly.
I've seen this playbook before during other immigration crackdowns. Companies that were planning headcount reductions anyway will blame visa costs instead of admitting they overextended during the hiring boom.
Remote Work Won't Save You
Everyone's suggesting "just work remotely from your home country." That's not how H-1B visas work. If you're on an H-1B, you're supposed to be physically working in the US for your sponsoring employer. The White House proclamation makes this clear - remote work doesn't exempt you from visa requirements.
Working remotely from abroad on an H-1B visa is technically a violation that can screw up future applications. Immigration lawyers are very clear about this: your visa is tied to working in the US.
The Brain Drain Starts Now
This policy will absolutely trigger a brain drain. Not immediately - people can't just quit their jobs and move countries overnight. But over the next 2-3 years, as visa renewals come up and companies balk at the cost, talented engineers will leave for countries with saner immigration policies.
Canada's Express Entry program is about to get a lot more applications. The UK's Global Talent Visa suddenly looks very attractive. Australia's skilled worker programs are competitive but still cheaper than $100,000.
What This Actually Means for Tech
The fee isn't designed to generate revenue - it's designed to stop H-1B applications entirely. At $100,000 per application, the government expects far fewer submissions.
Mission accomplished. Smaller companies will stop applying. International students will reconsider studying in the US if they can't work here afterward. The H-1B program will effectively become exclusive to companies that can write $100,000 checks without flinching.
The Timing Is Deliberate
They announced this on a Friday afternoon because that's when you drop bad news. But the effective date was immediate - no grace period for companies to adjust hiring plans or warn employees.
If you're on an H-1B and your renewal is coming up in the next 6 months, start making backup plans. If your company was already "evaluating" whether to renew your visa, they just got their answer.
This Shit Makes Me Angry
I've watched too many good engineers get screwed by visa politics. The process was already stressful - months of waiting, expensive lawyers, paperwork that gets rejected because you used the wrong font or whatever.
Now add $100,000 to that stress. Companies that used to renew visas automatically will start making spreadsheets about whether you're "worth it." Engineers who thought their renewals were routine will suddenly be "under review."
This isn't subtle policy. It's designed to make international hiring so expensive that companies just stop doing it. For the engineers stuck in the middle, this isn't immigration reform - it's getting fired with extra steps.
If you're on an H1B, start making backup plans. This policy isn't going anywhere, and your company's CFO just got a really good excuse to cut costs.