Trump’s new H-1B visa rules will have a big impact on Asian diasporic communities

Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order called “Restrictions on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers,” which places new restrictions on the H-1B visa, including a $100,000 fee for new petitions.

Chaos ensued immediately after the announcement. All entry into the country for H-1B visa holders was seemingly prohibited unless they paid the $100,000 fee. People abandoned travel plans to immediately rush back to the United States, and some even got off of a departing flight minutes before takeoff, for fear that they would not be allowed back into the country once the new rules took effect. Panicked international students began reassessing their career plans. WhatsApp group chats were inundated with confused texts as people tried to make sense of the situation and parse through contradicting messages from the White House.

There have been lots of mixed messages flying around, as various government agencies have tried to clarify the terms of the executive order. Here’s what we know so far:

What is an H-1B visa, and why is this such a big deal?

H-1B visas allow U.S. companies to temporarily hire skilled foreign workers for highly specialized positions. The vast majority of these visas are issued to international students and young professionals from Asia seeking jobs in the American tech and health industries, with Indian nationals taking up roughly three-quarters of approved applicants and Chinese nationals taking up another 12 percent. Chances are, if you belong to either of those diasporas, you probably already know at least a few people who’ve participated in the program.

One of the biggest benefits of the H-1B visa is its ability to be converted into a green card (or permanent resident card). The conversion isn’t guaranteed, and many critics argue that this allows employers to take advantage of foreign workers by leveraging their immigration status in the United States against them. Nevertheless, the H-1B visa is a relatively common avenue to permanent citizenship, and many non-citizens view the program as the first step towards their “American dream.”

“For professionals like me, the H-1B visa isn’t just a policy. It’s the only long-term path to continue contributing our skills here.”

For a lot of those aspirants, Trump’s new executive order may have thrown a wrench in that dream. “It felt like a decision that could erase years of education and effort in an instant,” says Yash, an H-1B hopeful originally from India who spoke to JoySauce, but did not wish to share his full name for fear it could affect his immigration status. He’s currently working in the United States as a financial analyst for Protiviti, using a temporary extension on his student status. The clock on that extension is now ticking louder than ever. “For professionals like me, the H-1B visa isn’t just a policy. It’s the only long-term path to continue contributing our skills here,” Yash says.

First things first, what are these new rules?

To get an H-1B visa, an employer has to file a visa petition for the job candidate with the U.S. Department of Labor. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) then reviews the applications for approval. Visas are granted through an annual lottery system, capped at 85,000, with 20,000 reserved for candidates who have received a post-graduate degree at an American university.

With the new rules, any new H-1B visa petition submitted on or after Sept. 21 is subject to a one-time $100,000 fee. (For reference, the fee per petition used to be somewhere between $2,000 and $5,000.) That means an employer with 10 prospective employees needing H-1B sponsorship would now end up paying $1 million just to file for their visas. Companies like Amazon and Google file thousands of these petitions each year.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection later issued a memorandum clarifying that the fee does not apply to previously issued H-1B visas or to H-1B visa renewals, which take up a large portion of H-1B petitions each year. The new rules also don’t prevent current H-1B visa holders from traveling in and out of the country.

Notably, the executive order included an exception to the fee for any company that is “in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States.” As of now, it’s unclear which types of companies would be exempt. But the fact that such an exemption exists and is fully discretionary should be cause for concern, as it opens up the possibility of quid pro quos between the White House and the companies the administration favors.

Also unclear is whether the fee applies to international students and interns seeking to change their status to H-1B. Trump’s proclamation refers specifically to “outside aliens,” which implies that a change of status for folks already in the United States may be safe from the fee. But a USCIS clarification to the executive order states that the fee includes 2026 H-1B lottery petitions, which would encompass any cap-exempt petition filed after Sept. 21 this year, change of status or not.

So what does all this mean for the future of H-1B visas and the Asian diaspora?

The TL;DR is simple: It’s going to become much more difficult (and expensive) for foreign nationals to get a job in the United States through H-1B visas, even if they’re already here as students, and the country’s reputation on the global stage is going to suffer as a result.

Not every employer sponsors H-1B visas. The number of American job openings available to international applicants is already limited, and is now going to decrease even further following the recent upheaval. Even with new H-1B applicants out of the picture due to the enormous fee hike, international students seeking a change of status aren’t going to have a much easier time.

One international graduate student from India at Drexel University, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of it affecting his immigration status, tells JoySauce that he and his friends are questioning their choice to come to the United States in the first place. “We are completely demotivated and devastated,” he says. “We became part of American society. We spent a lot on education and living. We are taxpayers who never bother local citizens and work hard.”

Yash adds, “When I came to the U.S., I saw it as a place that rewarded effort and skill. But you need a plan B even when you’re doing everything right.”

Right now, international students make up more than a quarter of graduate-level students at American colleges. If job opportunities in the United States for them start to dwindle, what is the point of studying here? And what incentive do future international students have to choose to study here?

If job opportunities in the United States for them start to dwindle, what is the point of studying here? And what incentive do future international students have to choose to study here?

American industries are going to be hit hard by the new rules, as well. Critics of the H-1B program (including in the Trump administration) often say the program takes jobs away from skilled American workers, but there’s no substantial evidence to support that claim. Rather, this country simply lacks enough skilled workers.

For example, international doctors make up nearly a quarter of the country’s physicians. Now, hospitals around the country are pleading to be exempted from the $100,000 fee, or they’ll be left cripplingly understaffed.

Meanwhile, tech companies are more likely to offshore than to hire American workers. The inability to access the H-1B talent funnel will drive smaller companies abroad, bringing down competition and consolidating hiring power among the biggest tech companies that can afford to pay the premium for foreign talent.

“Startups, which drive innovation and competition, don’t have an extra $100,000 to spend on an H-1B employee. The Amazons, Nvidias, and Googles of the world do,” explains a senior manager and H-1B recipient at one such multinational corporation in Hoboken, New Jersey. “Every large company typically also has a law firm on retainer and an immigration firm or immigration lawyers on retainer to issue policies internally and support employees.”

While that’s some good news for H-1B applicants aiming for big tech, reduced competition in the job market is generally terrible news for the economy. Add to that tariffs, strained relations with India and China, a reduced influx of international students—and it paints a pretty bleak picture for the future of the Asian American diaspora.

The sentiment among everyone who spoke with JoySauce was clear and unanimous: The American dream might not be worth chasing after all. “People who don't have other opportunities, or have close ties to this country, will still continue to come and engage and try to fight the policies or work through it,” the senior manager from Hoboken says. “But people who have choices are going to look at alternatives now.”

Yash adds, “If America wants to remain a global leader, it must continue to welcome the best minds, not price them out. That isn’t a favor to immigrants; it’s an investment in the country’s own future.”