A recent proclamation signed by President Trump, introducing a substantial $100,000 fee for new H-1B skilled foreign worker visa applications, has sparked contrasting reactions from prominent figures within the technology sector.
Selin Kocalar, the 21-year-old Chief Operating Officer of Delve, a budding artificial intelligence startup based in San Francisco, found out about the policy shift from a new hire who had just secured an H-1B visa. Leading a 23-person team that has successfully raised $35 million in funding, Kocalar is now faced with the significant challenge of understanding how this new fee will impact her company’s future hiring strategies.
“For a startup, financial resources are always tight,” Kocalar explained. “We don’t have the luxury of casually spending large sums of money, unlike our larger corporate counterparts.”
Meanwhile, Reed Hastings, co-founder and chairman of streaming giant Netflix, embraced the change without hesitation. He publicly declared on social media that the $100,000 fee is “a great solution,” anticipating it would ensure H-1B visas are reserved exclusively for “very high value jobs.” With around 14,000 employees and recent quarterly earnings exceeding $11 billion in revenue and $3.1 billion in profit, Netflix is clearly in a different financial league.
These divergent viewpoints highlight the profound impact of the Trump administration’s revised visa policy on the tech industry. H-1B visas are crucial for recruiting thousands of skilled professionals, from software engineers to AI specialists. The new fee is poised to create a distinct chasm, favoring well-established tech behemoths with deep pockets while putting immense pressure on startups already operating on tight budgets, questioning their capacity to secure essential talent.
This policy threatens to disrupt the very core of the U.S. tech ecosystem, giving a significant advantage to multi-billion-dollar industry titans. Silicon Valley’s vibrancy hinges on a continuous flow of innovative startups that fuel new ideas and technological advancements, many of which eventually evolve into industry-leading corporations themselves.
Aizada Marat, CEO of Alma, an immigration legal services startup in Palo Alto, California, emphasized the unfair burden this places on smaller businesses. “This will disproportionately affect smaller companies because we simply cannot compete with giants like OpenAI and Meta,” she stated, referring to companies that assist with employee visas.
Marat further explained that if the government’s $100,000 fee remains in place, her company, which has secured $5.5 million in funding and depends on foreign talent, would effectively be unable to utilize the H-1B visa program for hiring.
Image: Selin Kocalar, Chief Operating Officer of Delve, highlights the constant financial pressures faced by startups.
According to some entrepreneurs, such a policy shift could ultimately undermine U.S. leadership in the technology sector, particularly as the nation navigates an intense global competition with China in artificial intelligence.
Jihan Merlin, Alma’s head of immigration strategy, acknowledged that the immediate impact might not be dramatic. However, she warned that “policy changes like this compel people to reconsider establishing their companies in the U.S.,” which could gradually erode the nation’s global competitiveness.
Merlin pointed out that the previous cost for a typical H-1B visa, including all legal and administrative expenses, was approximately $10,000.
For years, both tech industry leaders and politicians have recognized the imperative for the United States to develop more effective mechanisms for attracting and retaining skilled talent. They largely agreed that the existing system for allocating skilled foreign worker authorizations, including the H-1B program’s lottery and its annual cap of 85,000 visas, was in dire need of reform.
During his presidential campaign in June 2024, Trump himself recognized these issues, even suggesting that U.S. university and junior college graduates should automatically receive green cards. However, this proposal met with significant resistance from some of his staunchest supporters.
“Companies need a diverse pool of skilled individuals,” Trump stated on “The All-In Podcast,” a show featuring prominent tech investors. “If you have great companies, you need smart people to make them thrive.”
Trevor Traina, a San Francisco founder and former ambassador during Trump’s initial presidency, characterized the new H-1B adjustments as “an initial move” designed to reframe the national discourse on immigration.
He added, “The tech industry would certainly benefit from an increase in visas for skilled foreign workers, and I believe many are optimistic that this will ultimately pave the way for a sustainable, long-term solution.”
Image: President Trump on Sunday, following his signing of a proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications for skilled foreign workers.
However, skepticism remains. Bilal Zuberi, 49, a managing partner at Red Glass Ventures, argued that the policy directly threatens the influx of elite tech talent into the U.S., thereby jeopardizing the nation’s competitive advantage in the global AI race.
“To disrupt that process is essentially self-sabotage,” Zuberi asserted. He estimates that approximately 30 to 40 companies he has personally supported throughout his investing career will feel the repercussions of these changes.
Zuberi suggested that startups might explore alternative strategies to circumvent the new H-1B visa fee, such as leveraging the O-1 ‘extraordinary talent’ visa program or establishing international offices, perhaps in Canada, to recruit remote staff.
“I don’t believe the solution for these companies will simply be to ‘just hire Americans’,” he concluded.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Bilal Zuberi’s estimate of affected companies referred specifically to Red Glass Ventures. The estimate of 30 to 40 companies applies to his entire investing career.