Looking beyond the hype: Canada’s muted benefit from the new US$100,000 H-1B visa fee

Law360 Canada (September 24, 2025, 2:43 PM EDT) --

Colin R. Singer

The Trump administration recently unleashed a sweeping overhaul of the H-1B visa program by imposing an unprecedented $100,000 application fee on new visa petitions, effective Sept. 21, 2025. This dramatic fee increase is more than 20 times the previous average and aligns with the annual salary of the typical visa applicant. The policy aims to prioritize American workers by discouraging companies from broadly recruiting foreign talent.

The administration framed the new move as a necessary intervention to curb longstanding program abuses that critics claim have depressed wages and displaced U.S. workers. While the new fee applies only to initial H-1B applications — not renewals — it has sent shock waves through the technology sector and immigrant communities that rely heavily on this skilled worker visa pathway.

Many opportunists might expect Canada to reap benefits from this policy shift. They are well advised however to avoid drawing such a conclusion, as many assumptions overlook the complexity of labour markets and immigration controls on both sides of the border.

In 2024, about 140,000 new H-1B visas were issued, predominantly to workers from India who accounted for 103,000 visas. Despite claims that these workers fill critical skills gaps, many H-1B holders earn relatively modest salaries ranging from US$97,000 to US$108,000 annually. Future wage requirements will likely rise alongside the prohibitive application fee, compounding costs and deterring employers from seeking this pool of foreign talent.

Typically, H-1B workers hold temporary status and only about 50 per cent to 65 per cent eventually secure green cards, often after several renewals spanning multiple years.

Canada has historically used permanent residence as an incentive to attract foreign talent who might otherwise pursue U.S. immigration pathways. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, increased admissions to Canada under temporary and permanent immigration programs, resulting in more than three million temporary immigrants in Canada by January 2025, have led to challenges such as rising housing costs, health care strain and high youth unemployment.

In response, Canada has scaled back its annual immigration levels across all programs by 20 per cent for 2025, leaving a pool of temporary workers already in Canada struggling to pivot toward more secured immigration status. Most will likely fail.

Moreover, the Canadian Global Talent Stream, a specialized program for high-skilled tech workers, similar to H-1B technology workers, mandates median salaries up to $150,000 annually in Toronto and Vancouver — a level few startups or mid-sized companies can afford.

As both Canada and the U.S. erect protectionist barriers to foreign labour, offshore work is poised to increase. Under current policies and labour market conditions, the costly new U.S. H-1B fee will likely eliminate the bulk of new non-essential applications.

But Canada’s gain from this shift is far from guaranteed.

Colin R. Singer is immigration counsel and founder of www.immigration.ca. He can be reached at colin@immigration.ca.

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