U.S. President Donald Trump indicators an govt order within the Oval Office on the White House on September 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump signed two govt orders, establishing the “Trump Gold Card” and introducing a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas.
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U.S. President Donald Trump‘s surprise move to boost the H-1B visa utility fee to $100,000 has left corporations — and main economies — scrambling to make sense of the potential implications.
For some global talent hubs, significantly these in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, nonetheless, consultants say it might supply a priceless alternative.
As a part of a push to guard American jobs, the Trump administration on Friday raised the application fee for expert overseas employees. The proclamation, which got here into impact on Sunday, requires corporations to pay the fee to acquire the visas obligatory for new staff coming into the nation.
Alongside monetary corporations, Big Tech firms have lengthy counted on H-1B visas to fill extremely expert roles with personnel recruited from India and China, amongst different nations.
India, for its half, hit back on the Trump administration over the brand new visa fee, saying the coverage “is likely to have humanitarian consequences.”
Charles-Henry Monchau, chief funding officer at Syz Group, stated the newly imposed six-figure fee for H-1B visas might ship a shot within the arm to global talent hubs in search of to draw expert employees.
“It definitely could be painful for the U.S. in terms of innovation,” Monchau instructed CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Monday.
He added, nonetheless, that the monetary influence of the H-1B value hike seems comparatively modest for Big Tech names, notably Amazon.
The U.S. e-commerce juggernaut employed by far probably the most H-1B holders — greater than 14,000 — as of the tip of June, according to the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services. Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google, in the meantime, every had over 4,000 of the visas in the course of the fiscal 12 months 2025.
“It could be an opportunity for the U.K., it could be an opportunity for Europe, for locations like Dubai, for instance, or maybe China … Because obviously if the U.S. becomes more stringent, this is a golden opportunity for many of these countries to open the door to offshore experts and workers,” Monchau stated.
‘An unprecedented alternative’
Harry Stebbings, founding father of VC fund and podcast 20VC, shares this sentiment.
“The single biggest threat to European innovation is the loss of talent,” Stebbings said Saturday in a social media put up. “Trump has handed Europe the greatest opportunity.”
Stebbings referred to as on the U.Okay. to provide all H-1B visas a fast-track to the U.Okay. as a part of a push to make the nation a “talent magnet.”
His feedback come because the U.Okay. reportedly appears to discover methods to abolish some visa charges for top global talent, a transfer that may distinction sharply with the Trump administration.
One possibility being thought-about by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is a proposal to drop visa expenses for top-level professionals, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing folks accustomed to the matter.
CNBC has requested Downing Street to remark. A Home Office spokesperson instructed the Financial Times that the nation’s global talent routes “attract and retain high-skilled talent, particularly in science, research and technology.”
Ellevated view over London’s River Thames and metropolis monetary district skyline.
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Barney Hussey-Yeo, CEO of British synthetic intelligence startup Cleo, on Monday described Trump’s abrupt change to the H-1B visa program as “an unprecedented opportunity” that had triggered a excessive quantity of curiosity from stateside employees.
“Since the H-1B turmoil this weekend, I’ve had over 1,000 direct messages from highly skilled professionals considering leaving the U.S. — Computer Science graduates from the world’s top universities now working at elite tech companies. The calibre is exceptional,” Hussey-Yeo stated in an announcement.
“The U.K. should do everything possible to become the default destination for this world-class talent,” he added.
‘A rounding error’
In the U.S., in the meantime, some companies have tried to grab the initiative following the H-1B visa fee hike.
For occasion, the co-founder and chief expertise officer of Metaview, a San Francisco-based agency, sought to leverage the information as a hiring alternative.
In a LinkedIn post, Metaview’s Shahriar Tajbakhsh inspired employees to take a look at the agency’s careers web page, saying it was “ready to move fast” to rent top talent.
“I’m seeing many companies from other countries using this as an opportunity to say, ‘Come work in country X.’ That feels a bit desperate to me,” Tajbakhsh stated.
He added that for his firm, “$100k is a rounding error compared to the value each member of our team creates.”
— CNBC’s Michael Considine & Yun Li contributed to this report.