Trump Requires $100,000 Fee for Foreign Tech Worker Visas as IT Stocks Plunge
Trump's $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee Sends Shockwaves Through Tech Markets
Executive order restricting foreign worker entry creates immediate disruption for IT services sector while opening arbitrage opportunities in offshore markets
President Donald Trump's latest immigration proclamation has delivered a seismic shock to the technology sector, imposing a $100,000 fee requirement for H-1B visa applications in what analysts describe as a de facto ban on lower-wage foreign workers. The executive order, which takes effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on September 21, 2025, fundamentally restructures America's high-skilled immigration pipeline and has already triggered sharp selling in IT services stocks.
The proclamation restricts entry of H-1B specialty occupation workers from outside the United States unless their petitions include the substantial payment, with the restriction set to expire in 12 months unless extended. The Department of Homeland Security retains broad discretionary power to waive requirements for individuals, companies, or entire industries deemed in the "national interest."
Beneficiaries Approved - by Top 100 Employers (USCIS as of 6/30/2025)
| Rank | Employer (Petitioner) Name | Beneficiaries Approved |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amazon Com Services LLC | 10,044 |
| 2 | Tata Consultancy Services Ltd | 5,505 |
| 3 | Microsoft Corporation | 5,189 |
| 4 | Meta Platforms Inc | 5,123 |
| 5 | Apple Inc | 4,202 |
| 6 | Google LLC | 4,181 |
| 7 | Cognizant Technology Solutions | 2,493 |
| 8 | JPMorgan Chase and Co | 2,440 |
| 9 | Wal-Mart Associates Inc | 2,390 |
| 10 | Deloitte Consulting LLP | 2,353 |
When Visa Costs More Than Annual Salaries
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant U.S. visa that allows American employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. It is a key program designed for skilled workers, enabling them to work in the United States.
The financial arithmetic is stark. Current H-1B processing costs typically range from $35,000 to $50,000 when accounting for legal fees, application costs, and administrative overhead. The new $100,000 requirement—which senior administration officials have indicated would be annual rather than one-time, though the legal text remains ambiguous—represents a cost increase of 200-400% that effectively prices out smaller employers, startups, and entry-level positions.
Market reaction was swift and severe. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, a bellwether for H-1B-dependent IT services firms, closed down $3.34 to $66.94 on heavy volume of 14.6 million shares—nearly triple its normal trading activity. The stock touched an intraday low of $65.20 as investors grappled with the implications for companies whose business models rely heavily on rotating foreign workers through U.S. client sites.
The proclamation specifically targets what the administration characterizes as systematic abuse of the H-1B program. According to the order, computer-related occupations have grown from 32% of H-1B approvals in fiscal year 2003 to over 65% in recent years, with IT outsourcing companies becoming the most prolific users of the visa category.
Labor Market Friction Meets Political Reality
The timing reflects broader labor market dynamics that have shifted political calculations around high-skilled immigration. Federal Reserve Bank of New York data cited in the proclamation shows computer science and computer engineering graduates aged 22-27 facing unemployment rates of 6.1% and 7.5% respectively—more than double the rates for biology and art history graduates.
Unemployment rates for recent U.S. college graduates often vary significantly by field of study.
| Major | Unemployment Rate (Recent Graduates) |
|---|---|
| Anthropology | 9.4% |
| Physics | 7.8% |
| Computer Engineering | 7.5% |
| Computer Science | 6.1% |
| Civil Engineering | 1.0% |
| Construction Services | 0.7% |
| Nutrition Science | 0.4% |
Meanwhile, unemployment in computer occupations has jumped from an average of 1.98% in 2019 to 3.02% in 2025, even as the number of foreign STEM workers in the United States more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, from 1.2 million to nearly 2.5 million.
The order documents specific cases of companies approved for thousands of H-1B workers while simultaneously announcing major layoffs of American employees, though it provides no company names. One software firm was approved for over 5,000 H-1B workers in fiscal year 2025 around the same time it announced layoffs totaling more than 15,000 employees.
Geographic Arbitrage Accelerates Offshore Shift
Geographic arbitrage is a business strategy that exploits differences in costs or market conditions across various geographic locations to gain an economic advantage. This often involves leveraging lower labor costs, similar to labor cost arbitrage, and can manifest through practices like nearshoring or offshoring.
Investment strategists anticipate the restrictions will accelerate a geographic rebalancing of technology talent, with Canada, the United Kingdom, and near-shore markets positioned to capture displaced hiring. Canada's Global Talent Stream program, which offers two-week visa processing, and the UK's Scale-Up visa pathway have already seen increased interest from U.S. companies exploring alternative talent pipelines.
For Indian IT services giants like Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wipro, the restriction creates complex cross-currents. While their on-site delivery models face immediate pressure, the policy could drive increased demand for purely offshore services as companies substitute remote work for on-site H-1B placements.
Early market positioning suggests investors are betting on this geographic shift. Toronto and Waterloo multifamily real estate investment trusts are attracting attention as potential beneficiaries of increased technology hiring in Canada, while Mexico's emerging tech corridors could see modest upside from near-shore team scaling.
Legal Battleground Takes Shape
Constitutional scholars and immigration attorneys are already preparing challenges to the proclamation, focusing on whether Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act—which grants presidents authority to suspend or restrict entry—can be used to impose what critics characterize as an unauthorized tax rather than a legitimate entry restriction.
The legal vulnerability centers on the Appropriations Clause and major questions doctrine. Congressional fee authorization typically covers only cost recovery, not revenue generation, and the $100,000 figure bears no relationship to administrative costs. Previous Supreme Court precedent in Trump v. Hawaii upheld broad presidential authority over entry restrictions, but those cases involved outright suspensions rather than fee-based conditioning.
The major questions doctrine is a Supreme Court principle asserting that agencies cannot decide issues of vast economic or political significance without clear congressional authorization. It requires Congress to speak plainly when delegating such significant authority, thereby limiting agencies from asserting broad, transformative powers based on ambiguous statutes.
Multiple district courts are expected to receive temporary restraining order applications within days of the proclamation's effective date, with tech companies, universities, and state governments likely coordinating challenges. The uncertainty around whether the fee applies annually or as a one-time payment may provide additional grounds for judicial intervention.
Megacap Tech Adapts While Mid-Tier Suffers
Large technology platforms including Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta possess the financial resources and lobbying capabilities to navigate the new landscape through national interest waivers and expanded international operations. These companies have already begun accelerating investments in Canadian and UK development centers while shifting visa strategies toward L-1 intracompany transfers and O-1 extraordinary ability classifications for their highest-value hires.
The impact concentrates most heavily on mid-cap IT services firms and consulting companies whose margins depend on arbitraging wage differences between H-1B workers and domestic alternatives. Industry analysts estimate these companies face immediate pressure to reprogram delivery models around higher on-shore labor costs or accelerated offshore transitions.
Investment Implications Through Market Cycles
Forward-looking portfolio positioning requires parsing several interconnected trends. Near-shore delivery platforms in Latin America and Eastern Europe represent immediate beneficiaries as companies substitute geographic arbitrage for visa arbitrage. Employee-of-record services and international payroll platforms could see increased demand as remote work compliance becomes more complex.
The Canadian technology sector emerges as a particular focal point, with foreign direct investment flows and headcount shifts supporting modest CAD strength against the dollar. UK technology hubs may experience similar but smaller effects, particularly in the Cambridge-London-Oxford golden triangle where Scale-Up visas enable rapid transitions to permanent residence.
Currency markets show limited immediate reaction, with immigration-driven labor supply changes representing marginal effects compared to central bank policy differentials. However, sustained shifts in technology investment geography could create longer-term structural supports for currencies in destination markets.
Policy Trajectory and Market Adaptation
The proclamation includes provisions for Department of Labor rulemaking to raise prevailing wage levels and Department of Homeland Security rules to prioritize high-skill, high-pay applicants. These follow-on regulations will shape the H-1B landscape even if courts narrow the immediate fee requirement, creating lasting changes to program administration.
Historical trends of H-1B visa petitions filed in the United States over the last decade.
| Fiscal Year | Number of Cap-Subject Filings | Annual H-1B Cap |
|---|---|---|
| FY 2026 | 358,737 Registrations | 85,000 |
| FY 2025 | 479,953 Registrations | 85,000 |
| FY 2024 | 780,884 Registrations | 85,000 |
| FY 2023 | 484,927 Registrations | 85,000 |
| FY 2022 | 308,613 Registrations | 85,000 |
Market participants should monitor the first wave of litigation outcomes, expected within 30-60 days, as preliminary injunctions could significantly modify implementation. The breadth of national interest waivers will also signal whether the administration intends surgical targeting of specific industries or broader application across the technology sector.
For institutional investors, the disruption creates both risk management imperatives and tactical opportunities. Exposure to H-1B-dependent business models requires immediate re-underwriting, while geographic rebalancing trends offer medium-term positioning opportunities in previously overlooked markets.
The proclamation's 12-month duration with optional extension creates additional uncertainty around the spring 2026 H-1B cap season, when registration volumes could provide the first comprehensive measure of demand destruction from the fee requirement.
Investment decisions should account for the significant legal uncertainty surrounding this proclamation's implementation and durability. Past immigration policy changes suggest market adaptation typically occurs more rapidly than regulatory resolution.