The tech industry just got slammed with a massive curveball. Trump announced that H-1B visas - the lifeblood of Silicon Valley's talent pipeline - will now cost $100,000 per year, effective immediately. With Amazon employing 14,000 H-1B workers and Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple each hosting over 4,000, this isn't just policy change - it's an earthquake that's already sending companies into emergency mode.
The warning signs were there, but Silicon Valley wasn't ready for this. Despite all the tech CEO dinner meetings with Trump, the administration just dropped a policy bomb that'll reshape how the industry hires talent. The $100,000-per-year H-1B visa fee takes effect at midnight tonight, and the scramble has already begun.
Amazon is sitting on the biggest exposure here - 14,000 H-1B workers across its sprawling empire, according to federal government data. That's more than any other company. But the pain's spread wide: Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple each have over 4,000 employees on H-1B visas. Do the math - we're talking about adding millions in annual costs for these companies alone.
The immediate panic is real. Reports surfaced that both Microsoft and Amazon fired off internal memos telling any visa holders currently traveling abroad to get back to the US before the new fees kick in. Microsoft declined to comment when asked about the leaked memo, but the urgency speaks volumes about how caught off-guard the industry was.
This isn't their first rodeo with visa uncertainty, though. Tech companies have been warning H-1B workers not to leave the country since Trump took office, fearing they might not be allowed back in. Now those fears just got a $100,000 price tag attached.
The fee only applies to new applicants, but that's still a massive shift in how these companies will approach hiring. Legal challenges are almost certain - immigration lawyers are probably working overtime right now drafting suits. But the psychological impact is immediate. Every startup looking to hire international talent just saw their cost structure explode.