When President Trump raised the cost of H-1B visas to $100,000 a year, many expected backlash from the tech industry. But some American workers are already seeing a silver lining.
In a recent social media post, an American techie shared that the new visa fee may have helped him finally land a job offer after months of interviews.
“I got hired thanks to the new H-1B Fee,” the post reads. “Recently I was doing rounds at a tech company in the Bay Area and the process suddenly started moving faster. Then I got a verbal offer.”
He believes the recent policy change played a direct role in speeding things up.
“I have been interviewing for some time now and I suddenly went through after the recent changes. I saw another post that was similar to my own experience… I’m starting to think maybe this H-1B fee is going to be helpful for domestic job searching,” the post added.
What is the $100K H-1B visa fee?
On September 19, 2025, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation raising the annual fee for H-1B work visas to $100,000.
White House staff secretary Will Scharf called the H-1B program “one of the most abused” in the current immigration system. He said the new fee is meant to protect U.S. jobs and prioritise the domestic workforce.
The goal, according to the administration, is to ensure the visa program is used only for bringing in truly high-skilled workers and not for replacing American employees.
‘H-1B and citizens are playing zero sum game’
Netizens posted their comments on the post. A user wrote, “Let’s be clear. H1b and citizens are playing zero sum game. Either you win or lose. For my fellow citizens, let’s ride the momentum, continue to put pressure on the government and push as many h1bs out as we can.”
Another added, “man these trump bots are everywhere now.” “You just had good luck. The rest of us are still unemployed,” wrote a user.
“I think in the short term, it will help us because currently budgeted headcount in the US will go towards us Americans. Long-term, I would not be surprised if companies try to outsource more jobs to India. They might even have a return to India initiative where senior leaders here in the US that have been on H1 B for ages and are getting tired of the green card wait and simply decide to return home and startup teams over there or do a complete lift and shift of their existing teams,” explained a user.
(This story is based on a post shared by a social media user. The details, opinions, and statements quoted herein belong solely to the original poster and do not reflect the views of Financialexpress.com. We have not independently verified the claims.)