Big changes are underway for U.S. visas, quietly.

The age of cheap, temporary H-1B labor is ending.

The Trump administration isn’t just slowing new approvals.
It’s laying the groundwork to make visa sponsorship financially painful.

Under the H-1B Modernization Rule and USCIS’s… pic.twitter.com/7fs3Z525Ik

— Chief_Engineer (@ChiefNiftyswell) April 15, 2025

Citations:

1. USCIS Final Rule – New fee schedule increases costs for visa filings:https://t.co/cb7CBszE6W

2. H-1B Modernization Rule – Tightens specialty occupation rules and employer obligations:https://t.co/Rdj9QnXEA2

3. Boundless Immigration – Analysis of proposed H-1B…

— Chief_Engineer (@ChiefNiftyswell) April 16, 2025

Looks like some changes are being made to the system without going through Congress and it's all perfectly legal. The wages for H1-B employees is significantly increasing whenever one comes up for renewal so companies are being forced to prioritize American citizens.

Good, this cannot happen soon enough. They all have to go back.

Quote:

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Looks like some changes are being made to the system without going through Congress and it's all perfectly legal

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Marxist judge in 3,2,1

Yes, there are rumors of this being proposed, which could ultimately result in immigration backlogs—possibly a positive development for our cause. However, with Elon at the helm, it’s unclear whether work visas will be targeted. We’ll have to wait and see what actually unfolds. https://t.co/2hdOr8mpvm

— U.S. Tech Workers (@USTechWorkers) April 16, 2025

Looks like it might just be a rumor.

An H-1B should be readily available at significant cost. Let's say… an annual fee that's equivalent to the median full time citizen income of the county you employ them.

Relegated the program to an easy option to bring in exceptional foreigners.

big if true. American citizens shouldn't have to compete for jobs in our own country.

If you want those "1% geniuses" that Elon talks about, you better be willing to pay top $, not bottom $.

Strongly favor this. I hire a ton of H-1s but they make well above those numbers on average. That's what it should be for, exceptional talent and not low priced talent. This is going to kill the consulting firms which is what needs to happen.

Can anyone tell me how this works? At some point someone posted here that there were rules that they had to make the same amount as US citizens, but that sounds made up.

Have a friend from Brazil that I am sure is an H1-B. Project manager started with Schlumberger. Lives in Houston single income and has probably an 800k house and seems to be doing well.

Neighbors across the street from me in Houston burbs. Millennial couple, both chem engineers in O/G or chem industry, work from home all the time, and house is probably about 800k... one elementary age in private school probably 25-30k. I don't believe they make a ton less that US citizens.



(edit to add mid typing, just did a quick search ... and only looked at the first thing I saw which was from 2017).

https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/h1b-workers/

Says they actually make a little bit more. Not surprising tbh.

Requiring SWEs to *start* at 130k is basically going to eliminate all Masters degree new grad hiring, except for maybe in very high income areas like SF Bay or NYC.