Over the past 21 months, the U.S. national authorities has created a bid of high-profile barriers to ineligible migration by highly-skilled students and workers: Cancelling visa extensions, cutting interview opportunities, and attempting to charge US $100,000 aliases much for definite migrant visas.
“Whether they spell into effect aliases not, it’s really an unrelenting barrage of government-sponsored propaganda against highly-skilled workers successful the U.S.,” says erstwhile legislature migration argumentation advisor David Bier, now an migration clever clever astatine the Cato Institute, a libertarian deliberation tank.
The effect is that U.S. tech companies are adapting their hunt for apical talent successful portion by some building offices and hiring workers overseas to get astir the onslaught of caller rules. And they’re doing truthful without wanting to talk astir it: IEEE Spectrum contacted 25 U.S. tech companies to study really they were adapting to the shifting environment. All of them either did not respond to a petition to remark aliases declined to participate successful this story.
New H-1B Rules Create Uncertainty, Impose Costs
By July 2025, the caller U.S. statesmanlike management tightened visa question and reply requirements and imposed social media checks connected caller visa holders, and world students were already showing little liking successful studying successful the U.S., which IEEE Spectrum reported astatine the time.
Then, successful September 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump proclaimed a $100,000 taxation connected applications for caller H-1B visas, up from astir $5,000. H-1B visas let definite skilled workers to temporarily unrecorded and activity successful the U.S. and service arsenic a communal span to imperishable residency. One category, for workers astatine universities, hospitals, and different non-profit institutions, is uncapped, but for-profit companies together tin only prosecute up to 85,000 H-1B workers a twelvemonth crossed the U.S., assigned done an yearly lottery.
Tech giants including Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Walmart advised immoderate of their visa-holding employees not to recreation overseas for fearfulness of having problem re-entering the country. They besides lobbied the national government, which narrowed the proclamation to applications from extracurricular the U.S. Most applications for H-1B visas are by companies trying to prosecute overseas workers already successful the U.S. pinch a different ineligible status.
In fact, astir companies that mightiness person hired H-1B workers decided against applying for visas for candidates taxable to the $100,000 tax, a March tribunal filing revealed. DHS recorded collecting fees for only 85 qualifying H-1B applications betwixt the statesmanlike proclamation successful September 2025 and 15 February 2026. The section besides reported processing 87 percent less applications for the H-1B visas taxable to the taxation than the twelvemonth before. The authorities ended up earning $20 cardinal little than the erstwhile twelvemonth connected H-1Bs, because truthful fewer companies were consenting to salary the caller value for hiring H-1B workers from abroad.
“Some of those jobs mightiness conscionable beryllium relocated overseas aliases possibly companies will make much efforts to enlistee U.S. workers,” says sociologist Julia Gelatt, an migration demography clever clever astatine the Migration Policy Institute successful Washington, D.C. “Some migrant workers whitethorn person recovered a different pathway, for illustration the L visa for transfers wrong multinational companies aliases the highly-skilled whitethorn person been capable to get O visas for bonzer ability.”
“Whether they spell into effect aliases not, it’s really an unrelenting barrage of government-sponsored propaganda against highly-skilled workers successful the U.S.” —David Bier, Cato Institute
The U.S. authorities besides continued targeting overseas students. In July, it set a fixed 4-year clip limit connected student visas. In the past, those visas lasted arsenic agelong arsenic the student’s people of study. The national authorities is besides studying a proposal to complaint students connected specified visas betwixt $70,000 and $100,000 to enactment for 1 to 3 years aft graduation—something that they tin presently do for free. “If location is simply a $100,000 interest for that, it’s going to trim the talent pipeline,” Gelatt says.
A non-peer-reviewed discussion paper by economist Michael Clemens of Johns Hopkins University successful Baltimore estimates that the connection to put clip limits connected student visas could costs U.S. universities betwixt hundreds of millions and respective cardinal dollars a year. That’s without getting into the longer-term costs to the wider economy: Many overseas students who stay successful the U.S. yet use for H-1B visas. “For galore talented individuals the H-1B is the only measurement to enactment aft studying present and yet getting a greenish card,” Gelatt says.
For a fewer weeks earlier this year, things were looking amended for H-1B applicants: In July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (covering Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island) upheld a little tribunal ruling that the September 2025 H-1B taxation was illegal, removing that peculiar barrier. But a fewer weeks later, connected 25 August, the management responded pinch a proposed rule that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) complaint $103,265 for the 85,000 H-1B visas it issues annually to for-profit companies. If it goes into effect, the norm would use to a acold larger number of group than the overturned 2025 proclamation, because moreover applicants already successful the state would request to pay.
“This is simply a pivot to find different measurement to enact a argumentation that was ruled forbidden successful national court,” says Clemens.
The projected norm is unfastened for public comments done 24 September, and DHS must reside those comments earlier issuing a last rule. Plenty of commenters invited immoderate obstruction to the H-1B program, which they blasted for taking jobs from U.S. workers, contempt a statement among economists that overseas skilled workers successful the U.S. alteration their American colleagues to patent more and earn more.
Other commenters constituent retired flaws successful the rule’s legality. As one commenter puts it: “It exceeds DHS’s statutory authority, functions arsenic an unlegislated taxation that bypasses Congress, rests connected an unsupported gross projection, and will thrust high-skilled talent retired of the United States.”
Companies Seek H-1B Workarounds
While fewer U.S. tech companies person issued nationalist pronouncements connected U.S. migration policy, their unit are talking astir it astatine a pragmatic level: for instance, the Society for Human Resource Management organized a webinar connected navigating H-1B policy soon aft the 2025 statesmanlike proclamation. The nine recommended employers scheme for longer hiring timelines, particularly from countries specified arsenic China, India, and the Philippines, from which galore immigrants are hired. It besides notes that companies whitethorn want to attraction connected retention of existing talent by helping them move from impermanent visas to imperishable residency.
Changes to migration argumentation are besides reshaping the travel of early workers. As of March, U.S. universities were reporting 20 percent less world enrollments successful bachelor’s programs than the twelvemonth before, according to Studyportals, an world student placement advisory. It was worse for master’s degrees: a 24 percent yearly decline. 84 percent of the participating universities listed authorities argumentation arsenic a important obstacle to enrollment.
Many U.S. tech companies presently prosecute overseas students to activity summertime internships aliases part-time while still connected their student visas, aliases successful the contiguous years aft they graduate. Experts opportunity the existing programme is bully for some workers and companies. “Companies don’t want to person to study really to enlistee their talent from abroad, they want to prosecute the young smart worker who’s correct successful beforehand of them,” Gelatt says.
Companies besides do not look eager to provoke the national authorities connected whom they dangle for visas. Of the 25 U.S. companies IEEE Spectrum contacted, 20 are among the apical 100 users of H-1B visas for comment. Only 2 replied. They some declined to participate successful this story.
In unpublished, preliminary research, Clemens says, he and different economists person recovered clues successful online occupation sites that less high-skill Indian tech workers are moving to the U.S. than successful the past. “People astir the world person very intelligibly gotten the message,” Clemens says.
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