A new JPMorgan Chase report has laid out just how severe the fallout could be from President Donald Trump’s executive order imposing a staggering $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications.
According to the bank’s projections, the change could lead to 5,500 fewer applications every month, as companies balk at the exorbitant cost of hiring foreign talent.
The report, released Tuesday, noted that of the 141,000 new employment petitions filed in fiscal year 2024, about 65,000 were processed through U.S. consulates abroad. Those overseas petitions, it warned, are the most likely to be hit hardest by the new rules.
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“It is possible that this change will make it less attractive for foreign students to come to the United States to study,” the report cautioned, adding that their post-graduation job opportunities in the U.S. could shrink dramatically.
The executive order, signed by Trump on Friday, is being pitched by the White House as a way to “put American workers first.” But the immediate reaction has been anything but calm — panic among travelers, confusion in corporate boardrooms, and uncertainty among early-career professionals about their futures.
JPMorgan pointed out that some of the world’s largest firms, particularly consulting companies, rely heavily on the visa program. Nearly half of last year’s top 50 H-1B recipients were consulting firms.
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The brunt of the change will almost certainly fall on Indian workers. In 2023, about 70 percent of H-1B visas went to Indian nationals, with two-thirds of the jobs in computer-related fields. While the overall number of affected workers is “fairly small,” the report said, the pain will be concentrated among Indians who have long seen the H-1B as their pathway to the American dream.
The H-1B visa program has been a key tool in this effort, enabling firms to recruit highly skilled workers from abroad. In fiscal year 2025, Amazon topped the list of H-1B sponsors with 10,044 approvals, followed by Tata Consultancy Services with 5,505, Microsoft at 5,189, Meta with 5,123, and Apple at 4,202. These companies have leaned on the program to fill critical positions and maintain their competitive edge in innovation, as per U.S. Citizenship Immigration Services, cited by TOI.
Critics, including many economists, caution that the visa program could slow innovation and productivity, since H-1B workers play a crucial role in driving the U.S. tech economy.