H-1B Filings Drop Sharply at Walmart, Goldman as New Fees Bite

Major employers face higher barriers to importing specialized talent under the Trump administration's tightened H-1B rules. A new $100,000 fee on certain new visas, combined with preferences for higher-wage roles, has contributed to a 27 percent drop in overall registrations for fiscal year 2026, according to USCIS data reported by India Today. The changes have slashed filings at Walmart, several Big Tech firms and Wall Street banks, while smaller nonprofits and rural hospitals report struggling to fill critical positions in teaching, medicine and software development.

The central tension lies in the trade-off: rules designed to shield American wages and curb program abuse now limit access for employers who say they cannot find equivalent domestic talent, particularly in AI and niche technical fields. The fee, imposed in September 2025 via presidential proclamation, applies only to workers entering from outside the United States. Companies hiring international students or others already in the country on different visas can often avoid it, according to multiple immigration lawyers cited across reports. Previously, total costs per visa averaged roughly $10,000.

Walmart submitted 312 certified H-1B applications in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, according to Department of Labor data analyzed by Business Insider. That represents more than a 50 percent decline from approximately 860 the year before and 40 percent below two years earlier. Its median offered salary rose to $150,000 from $144,000-$145,000 in prior periods. Amazon's applications fell about one-third to 3,057. Google, Meta and Microsoft also curtailed use, though Nvidia proved an exception.

Financial firms showed mixed results. JPMorgan Chase's certified applications dropped 29 percent to 516, while Goldman Sachs filings fell more than 60 percent to 101, per the same DOL dataset. Citi, Barclays and Morgan Stanley recorded increases of 20 percent, nearly two-thirds and more than 25 percent respectively. Across the 20 largest financial users, filings declined 25 percent. Capital One's modest 4 percent rise included multiple data-science and machine-learning roles at senior levels.

Demand has not collapsed entirely. USCIS reported sufficient registrations to meet the annual 85,000-visa cap. Between September 2025 and mid-February 2026, only 85 payments of the $100,000 fee were recorded in court documents from a related legal challenge. Applications from employers exempt from the cap fell 15 percent in one measured period, according to Department of Homeland Security figures cited by The New York Times.

Smaller organizations report acute pain. Sara McCabe, president of Massachusetts nonprofit Wayside Youth & Family Support Network, said the $100,000 fee made hiring foreign special-education teachers unaffordable; the school has turned away a dozen students. Rural hospitals in North Carolina and Maine described denied fee waivers, strained physicians and deferred equipment purchases to cover costs for a single German surgeon. Some medical groups have stopped recruiting nurses or technicians through the program while still paying for physicians.

Administration officials have tied the changes to broader reforms. A February rule favored allocation to higher-paid jobs. The Labor Department proposed raising minimum wages for H-1B workers. The September proclamation explicitly targeted exploitation and wage undercutting. Immigration lawyers note that uncertainty from successive policy shifts has produced a chilling effect beyond the fee itself. At the same time, many large technology companies already relied on workers already present in the United States, limiting their exposure.

Economists remain divided on net effects. Some studies credit the program with raising overall wages and benefiting innovation; others document risks of wage suppression in specific occupations. The latest data also coincides with corporate layoffs, hiring slowdowns after post-pandemic overhiring, and growing corporate use of generative AI to automate technical roles. Annual tallies could still shift as companies adjust to the lottery outcome and hiring cycles.

The 1990 program was designed as a temporary bridge for specialized skills. Three decades later, it remains a flashpoint. Whether the tighter criteria ultimately expand opportunities for U.S. workers or simply constrain growth in AI, finance and healthcare will depend on labor-market responses still unfolding.