Immigration policy has become a critical tool for labor and economic strategy. But as governments around the world compete for valuable workplace talent, the United States has gone in the opposite direction by adding new restrictions on legal immigration for high-skilled workers, explicitly targeting the H-1B visa program through a $100,000 fee.
The Trump administration began imposing the $100,000 fee in September, just days after announcing it. H-1B fees previously had ranged from $2,000 to $5,000. The administration has said the amount will encourage companies to hire American workers instead of relying on foreign talent. However, in practice, the policy has created confusion among employers regarding the extent of its implementation.
Warning signs abroad
By undermining the most important legal channel for attracting highly educated migrants, the lofty visa fee may weaken national competitiveness and accelerate brain drain as high-skill individuals look for roles elsewhere. Historically, when multinational companies have encountered H-1B restrictions, such as the 2004 reduction of the cap from 195,000 to 65,000, the result was an increase in employment to their overseas locations, primarily Canada, China, and India.
Furthermore, a high visa fee could even slow the U.S. economy and diminish overall confidence in the country. German investment bank Berenberg, in fact, lowered its U.S. economic growth estimate from 2 percent at the start of 2025 to 1.5 percent after the imposition of the higher visa fee.
The new H-1B fee isn’t the only obstacle placed in the path of skilled prospects. The recent increase in surveillance of international students on Optional Practical Training (OPT) also dissuades potential talent from viewing the U.S. as an attractive destination. And that was on top of the existing challenges already making it difficult for international students to study in the U.S. This fall, the number of international students enrolling in U.S. universities for the first time fell by 17 percent compared with last year.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) clarified that the H-1B visa fee applies only to new applicants living abroad and not to those transitioning between visas, such as from F-1 to H-1B status. But the move still sends a discouraging signal that the United States is becoming, if it hasn’t already become, a closed-off, unwelcoming place even for skilled workers, especially compared with countries actively courting highly educated migrants.
Peer economies are moving in the opposite direction
As the U.S. implements its new approach to legal immigration, other advanced economies are updating and expanding their high-skill visa regimes to attract global talent. Top destination countries such as Canada, Australia, the UK, and, more recently, Singapore are reinventing their approaches to attract the very workers America is driving away.
By restricting pathways for high-skilled workers while peer economies broaden theirs, the U.S. risks exporting innovation and eroding competitiveness, moving further from the balance it once sought between openness and control.
Examining flexible and efficient pathways
In immigration, some countries use a points-based system to ensure that applicants meet a specific skill or human capacity requirement and assess applicants according to their scores. Points-based models aim to reduce the subjectivity and bureaucratic uncertainty of the process and allow governments to recalibrate criteria without having to enact new legislation. Canada’s Express Entry and Australia’s SkillSelect programs, for example, can modify points thresholds for age, education, or industry according to shifting labor market needs, filling current and future skill gaps through proactive immigration policy.
Such adaptability makes these systems more nimble than the H-1B, which is capped annually and is often unresponsive to sectoral demand — that is, the specific needs or shortages within industries. In contrast, countries with points-based models treat immigration as a flexible labor policy tool rather than as a rigid legal mechanism.
Several advanced economies also provide straightforward postgraduate routes that expand opportunities for immigrants to transition from education to skilled work and even permanent residence. The UK’s Graduate Visa, Australia’s Temporary Graduate Visa, and Canada’s Post-Graduate Work Permit Program, for instance, allow international students to remain and contribute to the labor force immediately after graduation.
These pathways convert educational investment into long-term investment in human capital retention. This is a transition that the U.S. system complicates through fragmented rules across F-1, OPT, STEM-OPT, and H-1B authorization programs and visa categories.
However, a reoccurring issue with the traditional points-based approach is that immigrants arrive in the country without a solidified job offer and no guarantee of finding a job suitable at their skill level. Modern systems have adjusted to this by often using salary thresholds and skills criteria to ensure that foreign talent can succeed in the country of destination.
This also conditions foreigners to complement, rather than displace, local workers. For instance, Singapore’s COMPASS framework links Employment Pass eligibility to rising wage benchmarks and diversity indicators, preserving both labor market integrity and competitiveness. In contrast, the H-1B system’s wage-level structure creates ambiguity for employers, particularly startups and midsize enterprises, despite Congress’s intention that the H-1B be used to ensure that U.S. businesses of all sizes can access the talent they need to build and grow in the United States.
These examples suggest that as other economies experiment with ways to strengthen fairness while remaining competitive, the U.S. is continuing to struggle with a system that satisfies neither U.S. employers nor foreign workers.
Linking skills to growth
In addition, because countries have differing standards for educational attainment, it can be difficult to distinguish between an individual’s qualifications and their utility. A design such as the UK’s High Potential Individual visa attempts to overcome this issue by developing a single standard for academic achievement and keeping a running list of institutions that meet the criteria.
Other countries align immigration with national innovation and workforce strategies, positioning themselves more strategically in the global race for talent. The UK’s Global Talent Visa and Singapore’s Tech Pass both target high-growth sectors like technology, research, and health, filling critical skill gaps without waiting for market shortages to intensify. Australia similarly uses its points system to prioritize occupations in healthcare, engineering, education, and other fields essential for sustaining long-term economic resilience.
Although the U.S. also has the EB series visas, which can lead to permanent residency, it still relies on a one-size-fits-all H-1B lottery system that neither distinguishes among industries nor adapts to evolving skill priorities.
Regional implications
Other nations’ frameworks also consider geography, viewing immigration as a tool for regional development, while the U.S. model often results in a concentration of opportunity in a handful of urban centers, limiting broader economic diffusion of jobs, activities, and even ideas across markets or regions. In the U.S., skilled immigrants tend to cluster in hubs like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago where visa sponsorship and professional networks are concentrated. For immigrants, it can mean fewer affordable settlement options.
For the U.S., this is a missed opportunity to distribute growth more evenly across communities. In contrast, Australia’s Skilled Work Regional Visa helps distribute human capital outside major cities and toward rural areas or smaller cities, addressing both geographic inequality and regional labor shortages.
Still, many of these systems overlook soft skills such as teamwork and coachability, which employers value and which can help with integration in the long run. Governments acknowledge this gap and are testing hybrid selection systems that incorporate best practices from both immigration processes.
Foreign talent as an asset
Many other developed countries have demonstrated a willingness to retain and attract highly trained workers. In the U.S., the H-1B program remains a significant pathway for bringing in top talent. However, the proposed $100,000 H-1B filing fee risks hampering the legal process for overseas high-skilled workers who are so important in driving research and entrepreneurship.
Maintaining an edge will require forward-looking policies ensuring that lawful options remain efficient and aligned with needs and capacities. Most of all, it will require recognizing that regulated openness to foreign talent is an asset instead of a liability.