Satish, a graduate student from India studying in San Francisco, thought this fall would be about finishing his business degree and then lining up an H-1B visa, the work permit that’s become a mainstay for skilled immigrants in the US.
Instead, he’s worried about his ability to build a career in the US as he tries to make sense of the Trump administration’s plan to raise the H-1B application fee to $100,000. “When someone moves here, they move with the motive of working hard and building something better,” said Satish, who like many interviewed asked that their full names be withheld, saying they feared drawing attention to their visa status or complicating their future plans. “With everything that’s going on no one is willing to speak a thing. They’re scared of their statuses.”
President Donald Trump framed the new six-figure fee as part of his effort to protect American jobs and national security. Separately, he unveiled a “Trump Gold Card” visa program — where for the price of $1 million, individuals could get US residency.
Trump’s H-1B visa announcement jolted companies that have long relied on the program to bring in global talent, especially in California’s tech-heavy economy that relies on trained computer programmers, data analysts and engineers. It also fueled anxiety in fields as varied as education and healthcare, which also rely on the system.
The suddenness of the change — with the new policy taking effect Sunday — and initial confusion over whether the fee would apply to current visa holders added to the chaos, with companies warning affected employees to return to the US immediately and refrain from traveling overseas.
When passengers on an Emirates flight from San Francisco to Dubai heard about the decision, they paced up and down the aisle of the cabin checking their phones and asking flight attendants to let them off, according to video posted to social media. While passengers aren’t typically allowed to leave a plane once the cabin doors have closed, the Emirates pilot announced to the cabin that “due to the current circumstances, obviously they are unprecedented for us here at Emirates, we are aware that a number of passengers do not wish to travel with us and that is perfectly fine.”
One day after Trump’s announcement, the White House clarified that the fee would only apply to new applicants starting in the next lottery cycle, but the update did little to soothe fears of visa holders. On Monday, it added that physicians and medical residents may be exempt, after doctors expressed alarm about how this could choke off the pipeline of international medical graduates.
Still, many large companies were left trying to assess what it will mean for their recruitment plans.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. employ thousands of H-1B visa holders, while universities and hospitals — from Stanford to the University of California system — also rely on them to recruit lecturers and research staff.
For international graduate students, the visa is a key pathway to remaining in the US after finishing school. Of the 85,000 visas issued each year, 20,000 are set aside for advanced US degree holders, with a master’s or higher. Demand always vastly outstrips supply — in the 2025 fiscal year lottery, more than 470,000 people applied.
Some business groups in the past have called for reforms to the H-1B system, saying it’s been overused by outsourcing firms, while others have pushed for an expansion, including lifting quotas so they could fill critical labor shortages.
When Trump’s announcement came, it didn’t give companies or lawyers any time to prepare.
“It was timed to create pandemonium,” said Karin Wolman, a New York–based immigration lawyer. She described the measure as unlawful because fees are supposed to be tied to processing costs and subject to a public comment process.
“The intended effect is to make the H-1B unreachable for entry-level professionals fresh out of college or grad school and restrict its availability to only the most senior professionals with very large employers with lots of cash to spare,” Wolman said. “No one else will be able to afford it — startups, small companies, nonprofits, universities, hospitals. The impact on health care alone will be devastating.”
At San Francisco International Airport — a major entryway to the Bay Area tech scene and top schools — uncertainty and confusion was evident even beyond Silicon Valley. Public employees, medical trainees and students on temporary visas all said they were struggling to understand how the change might affect them.
Some had already made up their minds. Satish said he knew of at least two dozen acquaintances who were planning to fly back to India in the wake of the announcement. Others had stepped back from social media, worried that even their online chatter could complicate their status. The Trump administration has added social-media vetting to some aspects of the visa-issuance process.
Many were turning to YouTube and social media personalities such as Yash Mittra and Soundarya Balasubramani, who have built large followings among immigrants trying to navigate US policy changes.
For Hari B., who works for the city of Rancho Cordova, just outside California’s capital of Sacramento, the news raised his concerns for H-1B holders since he’s gone through the process himself. He first came to the US six years ago on an H-1B, paying roughly $6,000 in sponsorship costs. He now earns a government salary, far below what a tech worker might command, he said.
“We don’t make as comparable as tech workers,” he said after landing at the San Francisco airport, where he learned of the proposal. “I started out making $50,000 and looking at $100,000 just to get my application sponsored is very unreal.”
Hari said friends immediately contacted him asking whether his prior visa status could complicate his ability to travel, underscoring the uncertainty spreading quickly through immigrant circles.
The H-1B visa changes will likely have longer-term effects. N.S., a Turkish medical graduate, said he had trained in the US on a J-1 visa for medical residencies, and is now on a temporary B-1 visa. He planned to leave the US for a couple of years and then apply for an H-1B, but the fee change was only the latest reminder of how unstable the rules can be, he said.
