Big Tech and finance companies are telling H-1B employees to get to the US in under 24 hours

[hist78]

Employees at major tech and financial companies on H-1B visas were told to stay in the US following President Donald Trump's surprise executive order that makes it far more expensive — and potentially impossible — for them to return if they travel abroad.

Amazon, Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Meta are among those companies, per employees and internal communications reviewed by Business Insider.

On Friday, Trump signed an executive order requiring companies to pay a $100,000 fee for each H-1B application or renewal. The order, which takes effect on September 21 at 12:01 a.m. ET, effectively bars H-1B workers from reentering the country after that deadline unless their sponsoring employer pays the fee.

Big Tech and finance companies are telling H-1B employees to get to the US in under 24 hours

Amazon, Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Meta employees on H-1B visas were told to stay put, per employees and communications reviewed by Business Insider.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[hist78]

Employees at major tech and financial companies on H-1B visas were told to stay in the US following President Donald Trump's surprise executive order that makes it far more expensive — and potentially impossible — for them to return if they travel abroad.

Amazon, Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Meta are among those companies, per employees and internal communications reviewed by Business Insider.

On Friday, Trump signed an executive order requiring companies to pay a $100,000 fee for each H-1B application or renewal. The order, which takes effect on September 21 at 12:01 a.m. ET, effectively bars H-1B workers from reentering the country after that deadline unless their sponsoring employer pays the fee.

Big Tech and finance companies are telling H-1B employees to get to the US in under 24 hours

Amazon, Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Meta employees on H-1B visas were told to stay put, per employees and communications reviewed by Business Insider.

www.businessinsider.com

It’s very much an anti-business approach. It hurts the US ability to compete on a global scale.

 

[siliconbruh999]

This is how you loose talent

 

[hist78]

Employees at major tech and financial companies on H-1B visas were told to stay in the US following President Donald Trump's surprise executive order that makes it far more expensive — and potentially impossible — for them to return if they travel abroad.

Amazon, Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Meta are among those companies, per employees and internal communications reviewed by Business Insider.

On Friday, Trump signed an executive order requiring companies to pay a $100,000 fee for each H-1B application or renewal. The order, which takes effect on September 21 at 12:01 a.m. ET, effectively bars H-1B workers from reentering the country after that deadline unless their sponsoring employer pays the fee.

Big Tech and finance companies are telling H-1B employees to get to the US in under 24 hours

Amazon, Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Meta employees on H-1B visas were told to stay put, per employees and communications reviewed by Business Insider.

www.businessinsider.com

It seems that the Whitehouse and Trump himself have no rigidrous process to formulate a thoughtful policy and regulations.


New H-1B visa fee will not apply to existing holders, official says

https://www.axios.com/2025/09/20/trump-h-1b-immigration-visas

 

[Brady]

This will of course not cause these big companies to pay the shake down, but to outsource even more.

And it will be removed or reduced for most companies in short order. TACO.

 

[blueone]

This will of course not cause these big companies to pay the shake down, but to outsource even more.

I think more likely it will cause more companies to open or expand their offices in India. This will reduce job openings in the US. It's not a great solution, but many (most?) high tech companies already have facilities in India.

China is more of a challenge, but perhaps offices in intermediate countries would work for hiring Chinese candidates without opening R&D offices in China.

 

[swka]

I think more likely it will cause more companies to open or expand their offices in India. This will reduce job openings in the US. It's not a great solution, but many (most?) high tech companies already have facilities in India.

China is more of a challenge, but perhaps offices in intermediate countries would work for hiring Chinese candidates without opening R&D offices in China.

most companies as you mentioned has been moving team, or outsourced, to India for decades. This decision is not going to impact that trend much. For talents companies deem cannot find in India, they will do the H1B, will the additional $100K fee change the decision one way or another?

 

[hist78]

most companies as you mentioned has been moving team, or outsourced, to India for decades. This decision is not going to impact that trend much. For talents companies deem cannot find in India, they will do the H1B, will the additional $100K fee change the decision one way or another?

Many US tech companies have a mixed structure, with US based teams and outsourced teams in other countries. This $10,000 per H-1B holder fee will make it much more expensive to hire talented people in the US, whether the applicants are U.S. citizens or newly graduated foreign students from U.S. universities.

There are also many companies much smaller than Microsoft, Amazon, or Google. Unlike the tech giants, they may not have outsourced a lot of projects to foreign countries. But now, they may be forced to do so if they want to remain competitive.

 

[blueone]

most companies as you mentioned has been moving team, or outsourced, to India for decades. This decision is not going to impact that trend much. For talents companies deem cannot find in India, they will do the H1B, will the additional $100K fee change the decision one way or another?

What happens is not out-sourcing, it is called off-shoring. Out-sourcing is like what Boeing did to develop the MCAS software for the 737MAX; they hired another company to do the work, who used software development people in lower-cost countries to reduce costs, and because Boeing focuses on airframes, and out-sources the development of pretty much everything else. This is also what Apple does with manufacturing. There are a lot of companies that out-source projects, but that's not what most US high-tech companies do.

Off-shoring is when you want to take advantage of people with particular skillsets in other countries, often for cost reasons, but just as often because the same capabilities aren't available in the corporate home country, or only at much higher cost. These off-shore facilities are still US corporate facilities, but they're elsewhere. This is what most US high-tech companies do, and they're successful at it, or so they say. I could write a book on how complicated it is to successfully manage groups in other countries, but the cost savings is so tempting senior executives can't resist the opportunity. Nonetheless, I believe US companies will put more facilities overseas if Trump gets his way with the H1B program.

The $100,000 fee for new H1B participants is per year while they're working. In my opinion this fee, assuming it is legal (that's currently unclear) will effectively sunset the H1B program as we know it. There won't be any new candidates.