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Microsoft has urged its foreign workers with H-1B visas and H-4 employees to stay in the US or return before the deadline of 21 September. The caution was issued following the Trump administration's signing of an executive order increasing the costs of H-1B visas to $100,000 annually.
In an internal email, the company stressed that visa holders should not leave the country and strongly advised those abroad to return by tomorrow to avoid potential disruptions.
The recommendation is among Microsoft’s contingency plans to reduce the impact of the fee increase, which is likely to affect companies with a high number of foreign employees significantly.
President Donald Trump signed the executive order on the new annual H-1B fee on September 19. The relocation has caused waves in the entire technology industry, where companies have heavily depended on employees in India and China.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick justified the action by saying, "In case you are training someone, you are training one of the newcomers out of one of the great universities around our nation. Train Americans and stop importing human beings to steal our jobs."
White House staff secretary Will Scharf also supported this, stating that the order would only ensure that highly skilled workers were sponsored. This announcement will increase the amount of money that firms will pay to sponsor H-1B candidates to $100,000. This will ensure that the people they are importing are actually highly skilled and that American workers cannot substitute them.
India still records the highest percentage of H-1B visa holders. According to government statistics, in 2024, Indian nationals constituted 71% of approved beneficiaries, with China coming second at 11.7%.
Large technology companies were also the leading users of the visa program in the first half of 2025. Over 12000 visas were granted to Amazon and its cloud business division, AWS, with Microsoft and Meta receiving over 5000 approvals each. Under the new fee structure and US immigration costs, industry experts predict that companies that rely on global talent will face a substantial financial burden.
