What Trump’s $ 100,000 costs mean for the best world talent centers

The US President Donald Trump’s surprise move to increase the H -1B visa demand fees to $ 100,000 has left companies – and big savings – to give meaning to the potential implications.

For some world talent centers, especially those of Europe, the Middle East and Asia, however, experts say that it could offer a precious opportunity.

As part of a thrust to protect American jobs, the Trump administration increased requests for qualified foreign workers on Friday. The proclamation, which entered into force on Sunday, obliges companies to pay the costs to obtain the necessary visas for new employees entering the country.

Alongside financial companies, large technological companies have long been counting on H-1B visas to fulfill highly qualified roles with staff recruited in India and China, among other countries.

India, for its part, retaliated to the Trump administration for new visa costs, claiming that politics “is likely to have humanitarian consequences”.

Charles-Henry Monchau, director of investments at Syz Group, said that the costs of six-digit newly imposed for H-1B visas could offer a shot to the world’s talent poles seeking to attract qualified workers.

“It could certainly be painful for the United States in terms of innovation,” Monchau told CNBC on Monday.

However, he added that the financial impact of the increase in H-1B prices seems relatively modest for the names of large technologies, in particular Amazon.

The mastodon of American electronic commerce employed by far the most H -1B holders – more than 14,000 – at the end of June, according to the services of citizens and American immigration. Microsoft,, Meta,, Apple And GoogleMeanwhile, each had more than 4,000 visas during the 2025 financial year.

“It could be an opportunity for the United Kingdom, it could be an opportunity for Europe, for places like Dubai, for example, or perhaps China … Because, obviously, if the United States becomes stricter, it is a golden opportunity for many of these countries to open the door to offshore experts and workers,” said Monchau.

Harry Stebbings, founder of VC Fund and Podcast 20VC, shares this feeling.

“The biggest threat to European innovation is the loss of talent,” said Stebbings on Saturday in an article on social networks. “Trump gave Europe the greatest opportunity.”

Stebbings called on the United Kingdom to give all H-1B visas an acceleration of the United Kingdom as part of a pressure to make the country a “talent magnet”.

His comments arise as the United Kingdom has sought to explore ways to abolish certain visa costs for the best world talents, a decision that would contradict strongly with the Trump administration.

An option envisaged by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is a proposal to remove visa costs for high -level professionals, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the issue.

CNBC asked Downing Street to comment. A spokesperson for the Home Office told Financial Times that the country’s global talent roads “attract and retain highly skilled talents, especially in science, research and technology”.

Barney Hussey-Yeo, CEO of the British Startup of Artificial Intelligence Cleo, described Trump’s brutal change on Monday in the H-1B visa program as “an unprecedented opportunity” that had triggered a high interest of workers in the United States.

“Since the H-1B turmoil this weekend, I have received more than 1,000 direct messages from highly qualified professionals, considering leaving the United States-computer graduates from the best universities in the world now working in elite technological companies. The caliber is exceptional,” said Hussey-Yeo in a statement.

“The United Kingdom should do everything possible to become the default destination of this world class talent,” he added.

In the United States, some companies have tried to seize the initiative after the H-1B visa fees increase.

For example, the co-founder and technology director of MetaView, a company based in San Francisco, sought to take advantage of news as a job opportunity.

In a LinkedIn article, Shahriar Tajbakhsh of Metaview encouraged workers to consult the company’s careers page, saying that it was “ready to move quickly” to hire the best talents.

“I see many companies from other countries using this as an opportunity to say:” Come work in country X. “It seems a bit desperate to me,” said Tajbakhsh.

He added that for his business, “$ 100,000 is a rounding error compared to the value that each member of our team creates.”

– Michael Considine and Yun Li of CNBC contributed to this report.