Large tech companies have responded to President Donald Trump’s dramatic changes to H-1B visa applications by telling employees with those visas to remain in the United States, according to multiple media reports.
The White House announced Friday that Trump had signed a proclamation requiring employers to pay a $100,000 fee[1] for H-1B visa applications. In response, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft reportedly emailed their employees telling those with H-1B visas to stay in the United States and avoid foreign travel for now — and if they’re already traveling, to try to return before the proclamation takes effect at 12:01am Eastern on Sunday.
Business Insider published the memos from Amazon and Microsoft[2], while Sources published a similar memo from Google[3]. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment. TechCrunch has also reached out to Amazon and Google.
According to government data[4], Amazon employees have received the most H-1B visas so far this fiscal year, followed by Tata Consultancy Services, then Microsoft, Meta, and Apple, with Google ranked sixth.
Meanwhile, a White House official told Axios[5] that the fee will only apply to new applicants, not existing H-1B holders or renewals. And White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X[6] that “H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would; whatever ability they have to do that is not impacted by yesterday’s proclamation.”
This post has been updated with a quote from Karoline Leavitt.
References
- ^ requiring employers to pay a $100,000 fee (techcrunch.com)
- ^ the memos from Amazon and Microsoft (www.businessinsider.com)
- ^ Sources published a similar memo from Google (sources.news)
- ^ government data (www.uscis.gov)
- ^ told Axios (www.axios.com)
- ^ said in a post on X (x.com)