United States President Donald Trump hiked the H-1B visa application fee on Sunday, a move that has shaken workers, companies, and major economies.
The H-1B classification is a non-immigrant visa for the U.S. that allows American companies (typically tech companies) to hire high-skilled workers from other countries to take specialty positions that may be difficult to fill.
Trump signed a proclamation titled “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers” on Friday, Sept. 19, to reform the H-1B visa program to “curb abuses and protect American workers,” according to an FAQ sheet from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The proclamation requires companies to pay $100,000 for new H-1B visa applications submitted after 12:01 a.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 21. This includes the 2026 lottery and any other H-1B petitions submitted after that time.
According to the FAQ sheet, the fee does not apply to renewals, current visa holders, or 2025 lottery winners. It also clarifies that the $100,000 charge is not an annual fee. Previous fees ranged from $2,000 to $5,000, depending on the size of the company applying for the visa.
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Critics have argued that some companies exploit the H-1B visa program, hiring overseas workers and paying them as little as $60,000 a year, which is significantly less than the $100,000-plus salaries typically earned by tech workers in the U.S.
Experts tell the BBC that the staggering fee will not work because in 2023, the median salary for new H-1B employees was $94,000, compared with $129,000 for American workers. So, most new H-1B hires won’t earn enough to cover the $100,000 fee.
What the H-1B visa fee hike means for Canada
Canadians who wish to work in the U.S. do need to obtain a visa, so you may be affected by this fee increase when seeking sponsorship from companies. However, there are other working visa options available to Canadians, including the TN visa (supported by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), the L-1 visa (for intracompany transfers), and the E-1 Treaty Trader visa, which allows citizens of a treaty country to work in the U.S. to engage in international trade.
According to data from the USCIS, Canada is in the top five countries with the most H-1B visa approvals between October 2022 and September 2023. It’s in the fourth spot with 3,852 approvals. The top spot goes to India, with a whopping 279,386 approvals, followed by China with 45,344 approvals.
When it comes to how the fee hike could affect the flow of workers into Canada, Martin Basiri, founder and CEO of Passage, a company that aims to remove financial barriers for immigrants and students who want to study abroad, says it creates both risks and opportunities for Canada.
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“Without action, U.S. companies will target Canadian engineers, scientists, and healthcare professionals to bypass the fee by recruiting under the TN visa,” he explains in a post on X. “This would threaten our tech sector, drain tax revenues, and worsen shortages in critical fields like healthcare.”
On the other hand, he says the major change could present an opportunity for Canada to entice highly skilled H-1B professionals to work in the True North.
“To seize this chance, we must act quickly. We need to prioritize the world’s top talent and create a pathway for H-1B workers to move to Canada,” says Basiri. “This will increase opportunities for Canadians to stay at home rather than incentivizing moves to the U.S.”