Just as corporate America finished groaning about tariff headaches, another steep fee landed. Trump’s surprise $100K H-1B application charge has scrambled Big Tech, consultancies, and Wall Street alike, threatening the talent pipelines they depend on. Stock drops, raised staffing costs, and a flurry of emergency memos paint a chaotic picture of what’s next.

• GoogleGOOGL
  , MicrosoftMSFT
  , and AmazonAMZN
  file thousands of H-1B’s annually to fill roles — while hospitals, startups, and universities lean on it to primarily recruit from India.
• Immigration lawyer Karin Wolman noted the changes make it “unreachable for entry-level professionals” as it “restrict[s] its availability to only the most senior professionals with very large employers.”

Unpacking the fallout: While Trump argues the fee protects American jobs, wages, and college graduates, others warn it could backfire. Companies may simply shift more roles offshore, sapping US innovation and handing Canada and Europe an edge in the AI arms race. Gary Tan, CEO of famed startup incubator Y-Combinator, called it a “massive gift to every overseas tech hub,” and for global talent, it might be time to swap New York bagels for poutine — or even a baguette.