The $100,000 fee for H-1Bs is causing all sorts of problems

"Last fall, President Donald Trump's executive order raising the fee for H-1B visas to $100,000 - like many of his immigration policies - led to near-immediate chaos. Thousands of workers who had flown overseas to renew their visas ended up stranded abroad. Details about who would be affected only emerged after the fact."

"Trump's transition team was divided between a nativist bloc led by longtime adviser Stephen Miller and the president's powerful new tech allies, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy chief among them. These factions were split on the subject of H-1B visas, which let skilled foreign workers come to the US to fill specific jobs."

"Unlike Big Tech, rural schools and hospitals that rely on immigrant workers can't absorb the high cost of H-1B visas."

President Trump's executive order raising H-1B visa fees to $100,000 created immediate disruption, stranding workers abroad and causing confusion about implementation details. The policy emerged from internal conflict between Trump's nativist advisers, led by Stephen Miller, and tech allies including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. While H-1B visas primarily serve skilled foreign workers in tech roles—with Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft being top employers—the fee increase affects sectors beyond technology. Rural schools and hospitals relying on immigrant workers face particular hardship absorbing these elevated costs, unlike major tech companies with greater financial capacity. The H-1B registration season for the next fiscal year has begun, with applications open until March 19th, though the full impact remains uncertain.

Read at The Verge