Trump’s New H-1B Visa Fee Could Cost Companies a Lot More Than $100K

Hello, and RIP to Instagram (sort of). The app is testing out a new feed that opens right into its Reels feature. BI’s Katie Notopoulos has more on the change.

In other tech news, OpenAI’s Sam Altman (yes, the Sam Altman) stopped by the Berlin headquarters of our parent company, Axel Springer. He chatted with the father of quantum computing, and they agreed on a Turing Test 2.0.

In today’s big story, we’re looking at how President Donald Trump’s new H-1B visa fee will impact Big Tech, startups, consulting, and Wall Street.

What’s on deck:

Markets: The future of trading is … doing it in person. Wait, what?

Tech: The startups making big money by training AI with humans.

Business: Costco’s new exclusive hours are proving to be a boon for the business.

But first, the price of hiring just went up.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.

The big story

The view on visas

The dust is still settling on President Donald Trump’s new H-1B visa fee, but one thing seems clear: Corporate America is in for a shake-up.

Late last week, Trump sent businesses into a bit of a tailspin when he announced that each H-1B visa, which allows companies to hire foreign skilled workers for specialized roles, would come with a $100,000 fee.

There was some initial confusion about whether that fee applied to current visa holders (it doesn’t). But even with the focus only on new visa applicants, the impact is still expected to be big. JPMorgan economists predict the US will see work authorizations drop by 5,500 a month.

Business leaders continue to weigh in, with reactions ranging from optimism to concern. And while a lot still remains unknown, we’re getting a sense of what it means for different industries.

Here’s a breakdown on how the new fee could impact some of the industries that rely on the H-1B visa the most.

Big Tech: Tech giants are some of the biggest users of H-1B visas, so you’d think the new fee would hurt them the most.

But size matters. When your company is worth more than $1 trillion, an extra $100,000 won’t move the needle. In fact, you could argue that Big Tech would welcome the fee if it served as a deterrent to smaller competitors going after the same talent.

Still, it’s not all good news. The scale at which Big Tech companies hire workers on H-1B visas means the costs could eventually add up to billions of dollars for top sponsors.

Startups: It’s easy to think of startups as high-flying companies with lofty valuations, but the vast majority of them are simply small businesses. And without the deep pockets of their larger peers, startups could be left scrambling in the all-important war for talent.

Even if a startup is willing to pay the $100,000 fee, it will almost certainly only do it for the most senior-level employees who have the skills and salary to justify the cost. You could argue that was the original intent of the visa, but the change could also upend the pipeline of young talent working at startups.

Consulting: When it rains, it pours. Consultants aren’t in a position of power, as we’ve covered here before, and the fee certainly won’t help things. Simply put, consulting is experiencing a talent crisis, and any additional hurdle is likely to make it worse.

In some cases, like data scientists and other highly technical roles, the competition for talent will just increase. However, building out offshore hubs in places like India, Mexico, the Philippines, and Argentina, which was already a trend, could be another option to bypass the visa issue entirely, analysts told BI.

Wall Street: Financial firms aren’t too far behind Big Tech when it comes to using H-1B visas. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup each have more than a 1,000 certified H-1B filings.

However, the calculation of H-1Bs on the Street is different than in Big Tech. A majority of financial firms’ H-1B visa roles are focused on technology. And as much as banks and investment firms value their digital transformations, techies aren’t as high in the hierarchy as money makers like traders, investment bankers, and wealth managers.

Still, the visa feel will be felt on the Street, especially when it comes to Wall Street’s junior banker hiring.

3 things in markets

1. This retail investing platform wants to take trading IRL. Moomoo is opening a physical retail store in 2026, located in NYC’s Herald Square. With human employees there to help, its CEO sees the storefront as an opportunity to increase brand trust and community engagement.

2. The US economy’s greatest strength could turn out to be investors’ biggest weakness. America’s economic resilience has allowed it to escape many recession forecasts over the years. But that could create a blind spot, financial pros told BI. One strategist said investors’ complacency is reminiscent of the 1990s.

3. This lowkey billionaire is the real winner of the new iPhone launch. Wang Laisheng’s company, Luxshare Precision Industry, started out making accessories for Apple. Now, it assembles iPhones — and the recent iPhone 17 launch sent its stock spiking 32% and Laisheng’s net worth to $14.3 billion. The success has even OpenAI knocking on its door.

3 things in tech

1. AI companies are shelling out for human trainers. Companies are raising billions to recruit humans to teach chatbots everything from Japanese to finance to memes. Workers can earn hundreds of dollars an hour at some of these companies. See which startups are cashing in.

2. Post-IPO is not the time to rest on your laurels. As Klarna’s staff celebrated its $15 billion IPO at its employee conference in Stockholm, CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski shared a stark text he received from chairman Michael Moritz: Klarna was still “10 years behind” a competitor.

3. Keep your friends close. Abridge became a $5.3 billion darling of healthcare tech with the help of medical records giant Epic. Now, Epic is releasing its own tech to compete with Abridge’s AI medical scribe. It shows how partners and former shareholders can quickly become competitors.

3 things in business

1. Where does Trump vs. Kimmel go next? It’s possible that the president will simply move on from his beef with Kimmel. But regardless of the aftermath, we should still take the whole ordeal seriously, writes BI’s Peter Kafka. It’s also shown Corporate America that there’s one line it can’t cross when it comes to free speech.

2. Costco is proving the haters wrong. Some employees were concerned that Costco’s plans to open stores early for its executive members would backfire. Foot traffic data from Placer.ai says otherwise. The data indicates that the extended hours are getting customers to shop faster and more frequently.

3. Trump’s economic holy trinity is a tough nut to crack. The president has three economic goals: boost US manufacturing, crack down on immigration, and keep prices low. These work fine on their own, or even in pairs, but many economists and trade experts say Trump can’t accomplish all three at once. Here’s why.

In other news

Luigi Mangione’s federal judge orders DOJ to stop making prejudicial pretrial statements after Trump retweets.

Jimmy Kimmel’s comeback show reached 6.26 million viewers, Disney says.

Sean Combs launched a jailhouse ‘Free Game with Diddy’ course to teach fellow inmates business skills: lawyers.

Disney investors demand internal records on Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, say the board may have breached duties.

Honda ends production of its Acura EV in the US, citing ‘market conditions.’

Nexstar says it’s ‘engaged in productive discussions’ with Disney but won’t show Jimmy Kimmel yet.

What’s happening today

• Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes final Q2 growth figures.
• Costco reports earnings.
• G20 foreign ministers meeting.

Dan DeFrancesco, deputy executive editor and anchor, in New York. Meghan Morris, bureau chief, in Singapore. Akin Oyedele, deputy editor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in New York. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York.