US tech giants face challenges due to new H-1B visa fee

U.S. technology companies are facing new challenges as U.S. President Donald Trump has introduced a significant change to H-1B visa applications. Employees of these companies with H-1B visas are being instructed to stay in the U.S., as a new law mandates employers to pay a fee of $100,000 per H-1B application. This development has caused considerable concern at Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, which have advised their employees through internal communications to avoid international travel for the time being. If affected employees are already traveling, they should urgently attempt to return before the regulation takes effect at 12:01 AM (Eastern Time) on Sunday. Business Insider published the internal memos from Amazon and Microsoft, while similar communications from Google have been reported in other sources. TechCrunch has reached out to the three companies for comment. According to government data, Amazon has received the most H-1B visas this fiscal year, followed by Tata Consultancy Services, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple, with Google in sixth place. A White House representative confirmed to Axios that the fee applies only to new applications, not to existing H-1B holders or renewals.