After a six -week Work Trip Xiayun, an employee in a semiconductor company in the Silicon Valley, landed in her hometown in China on vacation when she saw the news about H-1B visas. On Friday afternoon, US President Donald Trump signed proclamation The saying that every entry of the H-1b holder to the US will be “limited, except for those aliens whose petitions are accompanied by or complement the payment of $ 100,000.” The message meant that Xiayun and hundreds of thousands of immigrant employees tried to find out how they would be influenced and if they were abroad, they should return before Sunday, when the up-to-date rule took place.
Xiayun, who asked to employ her online alias and not to mention the name of her employer in history, to avoid identification, claims that she began to receive communication from her manager, asking her to return as soon as possible to avoid the fee. Before she met her family at the airport, she said that she has already decided to fly to the USA as soon as possible. She stayed in Urumqi only for two hours before she jumped to the next flight back to California.
“I could not wait for the opportunity to travel with my parents for a long time, but in fact I cannot leave my husband, my cat, my home, my friends and my work in the USA,” says Wired.
H-1B is one of the most common work visas, issued by qualified employees looking for a short-lived stay in the US up to three years, with the possibility of extending constant employment. In 2019, US citizens estimated that there were over 580,000 immigrants with H-1B visits in the country. Companies from the Silicon Valley are the largest program users, according to the data collected by SZYCIS in the matter of employers who had the most H-1B visas every year. In the tax year 2025The best companies sponsoring up-to-date H-1B visas are Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google.
According to E -Maili checked by Wired until Friday evening, Microsoft, Google and Amazon sent urgent communication to foreign employees, advising them to return to the States before the Sunday deadline in proclamation.
Contradictory messages poured from the White House, American trade secretary Howard LutnickIN Press secretary Karoline Leavittand another government Social media accounts. “Things change every hour, every 30 minutes,” says Steven Brown, an immigration lawyer at PC Reddy Neumann Brown. Lutnick claimed that the fee of $ 100,000 would be charged every year, others stated that this was a one -time fee; Primary proclamation did not snail-paced down current visa owners, but control ads. Conflicts and up-to-date achievements left the legal employees of immigrants, their families and employers, they are not sure what to believe in the last weekend.
Wired talked to six owners of Wiz H-1B who made decisions at the last minute to return to the USA from holidays or working travel before a up-to-date politician appeared. Everyone asked for identification only with their names or names in this story, fearing that speaking against administration would cause revenge. During explanations Posted by administration On Saturday afternoon it explained that most H-1B owners who were outside the country at that time did not have to hurry, until then they claim that they had already lost thousands of dollars in changing travel plans and spent two days in emotional stress.