With uncertainty around H-1B visa fee, U.S. businesses unsure how to move forward

Dallas — Kishore Khandavalli began his career in the U.S. on an H-1B skilled foreign worker visa.

"I was one of the first ones," Khandavalli told CBS News.

He now runs a software consulting company in Dallas, where nearly half of his 380 employees have H-1B visas.

"There's a skills gap between the people that are available in the market, the 3%, and the skills that the market is needing," explained Khandavalli on why he doesn't give all the positions he has to Americans.

According to Khandavalli, there essentially isn't enough available U.S. talent in his sector.

"Especially with the upcoming technologies," Khandavalli said.

So, he was concerned when President Trump in September 2025 announced his administration was increasing the H1-B visa fee from about $215, all the way up to $100,000.

On June 8, a federal judge invalidated the White House's $100,000 fee policy in response to a lawsuit brought by 20 states.

In his 42-page decision, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin wrote: "The substance and application of the $100,000 payment reveal that it is a tax, regardless of what the payment is called."

He added that "there are no statutory powers authorizing [the Trump administration] to implement a $100,000 tax on H-1B petitions."

Khandavalli hasn't hired any new foreign workers since Mr. Trump implemented the new fee.

"With this new rule, I would have lost about $1 million a year," Khandavalli said.

Much of his business relies on workers from India, which is home to 73% of H-1B visa holders, according to 2023 numbers from the Pew Research Center.

CBS News traveled there months after the president signed the order and visited the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, after learning that several students there planned to move to the U.S. on student visas, and then try and get an H-1B.

One doctoral student, Ravi Bushan, told CBS News he has dreamed of working in the U.S. his entire life.

"It would be a career transformation for me," Bushan said.

However, his approach has shifted.

"With the changes in the visa formalities, and the shifts in the way immigration is now seen in the U.S., now I'm looking at diversifying my options, looking at other places," Bushan said.

Back in Texas, Khandavalli is worried more changes could come as the Trump administration is appealing this week's decision to remove the $100,000 fee.

He says if there is another barrier to the visa, he could potentially "have to send the work overseas."

Such a possibility could threaten a pipeline that both skilled foreign workers and American businesses have relied on for decades.

"Without the H-1B program being affordable to all the businesses, I'm concerned that the talent might leave the country," Khandavalli said. "I'm concerned about how we're going to innovate in the coming three, four, five years."