The H-1B visa has assisted the highly skilled professionals around the world to facilitate the technology sector in America. Comparable stalwarts who have left a permanent imprint in the US following the acquisition of H-1B visa include – Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella.
To more Indians, it has represented the achievement of the so-called American Dream, but September 21, US President Donald Trump added a new fee known as the 100000-dollar fee onto this visa throwing it into a huge controversy. Previous fees of the H-1B visa used to cost between 2000 and 50,000 dollars.
Trade Secretary Howard Lutnick responded that it had all the big businesses on board. He added that such a shift will most probably lead to a big reduction of H-1B visas than the existing 85,000 a year limit since it is not economic anymore.
However, the H-1B visa has played a vital role in defining the tech industry in America. Here are some of the examples.
Elon Musk
The success of SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink and X Corp and has hired tech experts in different parts of the world, the billionaire who would become the first trillionaire in the world has been behind their success. Musk initially went to the US under a J-1 exchange visa, which was later changed into an H-1B visa to continue academic and business.
The reason I am in America with so many overly critical people who constructed SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds and hundreds of other businesses that made America strong is due to H1B, Musk had posted H-1B on December X.
Take a giant step backward, and fuck yourself in the face. I will fight your issue on the basis of which you can not possibly conceive, I said.
A day after that, however, he alleged that the H-1B visa program is defective and requires significant alteration.
Satya Nadella
The chief executive officer at Microsoft had begun his work under H-1B visa program in the 1990s. He has mentioned the significance of the program in attracting international talent which he has seen is essential in innovation and economic development.
Nadella had added in a podcast on the Marketplace series, Make Me Smart, that all countries needed to examine their immigration policy, and in this instance it was about the American competitiveness. He was also able to add that in the case of H-1B, at least at Microsoft, it relates largely to high-level labor, which enables us, as Americans, to be competitive on the international level.
Sundar Pichai
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai arrived in the US as an international pupil and switched to H-1B visa.
The same day, on June 23, 2020, Pichai gave his view regarding X in the Trump administration proclamation when the immigrant work visas were suspended. He says, Immigration has made a huge contribution to the economic triumph of America, turning it into a technological powerhouse and also Google the corporation that it is. Frustrated by the current announcement – we will keep standing by immigrants and trying to create opportunity by everyone.
Over the years, Pichai, has worked his way to the top to become the CEO of Alphabet, and has presided over innovations in AI, Google cloud and hardware such as Pixel phones and Nest devices.
According to the data provided by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Indians constitute 71 per cent of all the permitted H-1B applications.
India Reaction
On the matter of increase of visa fee, India had indicated that it would have humanitarian effects and loss of realignment in families. It added that it is examining the consequences of the increase and wished the US authorities to respond to the issue.
The Foreign Ministry wrote in a statement, the government has been hearing related to the proposed restrictions on the US H-1B visa program. All concerned including Indian industry make the long-term ramifications of the move under study and has already posted an initial analysis explaining some of the perception about the H-1B program.
US Lawmakers Seek Answers From Firms Over H-1B Visa Use Amid Layoffs
The US legislators have requested the leading US corporations such as Apple, Amazon, and JPMorgan, to provide reasons as to why they are employing thousands of foreigners under H-1B visas, yet lay off other workers, the Wall Street Journal published on Wednesday.
The report is following the announcement by the Trump administration last week, it would seek to assess companies $100,000 per year to use H-1B visas, permitting companies to hire foreign employees in specialized roles. Another proposal that has been announced by the US to revamp the selection process to include higher vault and better-paid workers on the H-1B visa program.
The Journal report indicated that republican senator, Chuck Grassley, and Democratic senator Dick Durbin have addressed companies requesting more information on how many H-1B workers they hire and pay and whether they have forced American employees out of the job.
The senators wrote to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy saying that, with all the domestic American talent pushed to the inactive list, they find it difficult to believe that Amazon cannot find experienced American tech workers who can offer this labor.
Meta (Big Tech), Amazon and Microsoft, which invest much in artificial intelligence, all have reported job cuts this year.
The other companies that were receiving the letter had been Deloitte, Google of Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Walmart, Cognizant Technology Solutions and Tata Consultancy Services, as per the report.
The large beneficiary of H-1B visas was India where 71 percent of all approved beneficiaries were Indians, with China coming in a faraway second at 11.7 percent, according to a government-chart.
Over 12,000 of Amazon and its cloud-computing service, AWS, received H-1B visa approvals in the first half of 2025, with over 5,000 H-1B visa approvals each at Microsoft and Meta.
walmart, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Cognizant did not respond to a request to comment immediately to Reuters. Another request by Reuters to senators to comment on the report was also not response to by senators Grassley and Durbin.
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