H-1B Filings Drop Sharply at Walmart, Goldman Sachs After New Visa Fees
Cover image from businessinsider.com, which was analyzed for this article
New Trump administration restrictions on the H-1B visa program have locked some employers out and caused filings to plummet, with Walmart's down over 50% and declines at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, while Citi saw increases. The changes aim to prioritize American workers but are disrupting tech and finance hiring. Companies are adjusting strategies amid the policy shift.
PoliticalOS
Friday, April 10, 2026 — Business
The Trump administration's H-1B overhaul, including a $100,000 fee for many overseas hires and wage-based lottery priorities, has produced exactly the drop in applications from large employers that its designers intended. Walmart, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have cut new filings sharply while some competitors increased theirs, revealing an uneven landscape where big firms can adapt but smaller hospitals and schools face real staffing strain. The unresolved question is whether these restrictions will durably raise wages and opportunities for American workers or simply constrain growth in tech, finance and specialized health care.
What outlets missed
Most coverage omitted the explicit anti-fraud rationale in the September 19, 2025 White House proclamation, which framed the $100,000 fee and wage priorities as tools to end wage undercutting and exploitation of the program. Nationwide H-1B registrations fell 27 percent to 344,000 for fiscal 2026 due in part to earlier beneficiary-centric lottery reforms, not solely the new fee. Outlets also underplayed that Walmart already employed roughly 2,390 H-1B workers mid-2025, meaning the filing drop concerns only new certifications amid a broader hiring slowdown and rising AI efficiencies. Mixed bank results, including increases at Citi, Barclays and Morgan Stanley, received less attention than uniform-decline narratives. Finally, economist views on H-1B's net benefit are divided, with multiple studies documenting wage pressure in tech and finance rather than uniform agreement on gains for American workers.
Major employers from Walmart to Goldman Sachs have cut H-1B visa applications by half or more in the wake of Trump administration rules that added a $100,000 fee for many new hires and prioritized higher wages. The shifts, covering the first full quarter after the September 2025 changes took effect, have altered hiring calculations across retail, finance and health care. Smaller organizations now face the steepest barriers.
The central tension is whether these restrictions will open more opportunities for American workers or simply leave specialized roles unfilled. Department of Labor data show Walmart certified 312 H-1B applications from October through December 2025. That figure is down more than 50 percent from roughly 860 in the same period a year earlier, according to the department's Labor Condition Application records. Goldman Sachs filings fell 60 percent to 101, while JPMorgan Chase dropped 29 percent to 516. Citi, by contrast, posted a nearly 20 percent increase. Across the 20 largest financial filers, total applications declined 25 percent year-over-year.