The new H-1B visa environment is rewriting the economics of global hiring. With a $100,000 fee per petition and approval rates hovering around 35 percent, companies are finding that traditional U.S. immigration pathways are no longer a predictable or affordable route to talent.
For many, the challenge is no longer just recruitment, but redesigning how and where they hire altogether. Recently, Nvidia’s CEO made headlines when he announced the company will cover $100,000 fee for H-1B visas for each new applicant. While this comes as a great news for Nvidia and its workforce, but what happens to companies that do not have Nvidia’s deep pockets?
In corporate sectors, the $100K per hire is posing to be an insurmountable barrier in an already challenging recruitment landscape. The new rule is forcing employers to consider a fundamental shift in how organizations staff and plan their immigration policies with real stakes for how the U.S. can attract top global talent and stay competitive.
The American Bazaar spoke with Nicole Forbes, deputy general counsel at Globalization Partners, a global employment provider offering Employer of Record (EOR) solutions to help companies hire internationally. Forbes discussed what the evolving H-1B environment means for businesses and how companies of all sizes can navigate hiring in today’s rapidly changing immigration landscape.
The American Bazaar: What do recent changes to the U.S. H-1B visa program mean for businesses looking to expand globally?
Nicole Forbes: The $100,000 non-refundable fee for H-1B petitions has changed the math on talent acquisition. This price tag, combined with a 35 percent approval rate, creates a strategy that is both expensive and unreliable. Most organizations simply cannot sustain this model anymore.
The H-1B visa changes have also brought to light an important lesson for HR leaders: Any
workforce strategy anchored to a single immigration pathway is structurally fragile. When
access to talent depends on policies that can shift overnight, competitors who hire without those constraints will reach candidates first.
Organizations with global ambitions must stop working around immigration policy and start designing borderless workforce models.
What is some practical advice for how companies can streamline global hiring
without having to pay H-1B visa fees?
Stop assuming that talent has to come to you. Most roles today require skills and time zone
coverage, not a specific zip code. This shift expands your hiring map instantly.
Instead of waiting on visa outcomes, let business needs drive geography: where are your
customers, where does the talent concentrate, where do you need coverage? Once that’s
determined, invest in consistent policies and benefits that travel well across borders, so a team member in São Paulo feels as supported as one in Boston.
Lastly, get serious about compliance infrastructure. While local compliance from country to
country is complex, AI-powered tools now automate payroll, tax and documentation. This
replaces the “lottery-and-wait” model with predictable, compliant onboarding in days without a six-figure visa fee attached.
How can companies of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises, benefit from the
EOR model for global hiring?
An Employer of Record (EOR) gives any company, whether it has 30 employees or 30,000, the ability to hire in a country without setting up a legal entity there, a process that can otherwise take six months or more.
More importantly for legal and HR teams, an EOR partner handles complex cross-border employment matters including locally compliant employment documentation, benefits, payroll, tax and compliance with local labor and employment laws.
For small businesses, this removes the need for a physical global footprint. For large
enterprises, it provides speed and reduces regulatory risk. The strategic upside goes beyond logistics. G-P’s 2025 World at Work data shows 84 percent of executives are struggling to find the skills they need locally and 52 percent of employees globally are open to new roles.
A workforce drawn from multiple markets reflects your customer base, surfaces product insights you would never get from a single headquarters, and naturally covers more of the clock.
Your talent supply chain is a key business asset. Just as your company diversifies suppliers to guarantee manufacturing continuity, organizations must diversify their talent sources to guarantee hiring continuity. Building a resilient talent pipeline without border constraints is not just a compliance workaround. It’s a necessary risk-mitigation strategy and a competitive advantage.