Jensen Huang says H-1B changes would've prevented his family from immigrating (www.cnbc.com)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang warned that the Trump administration’s new $100,000 H‑1B fee, introduced in September, would have made his own family’s immigration to the U.S. impossible — a personal testament to how the policy could bar many skilled workers and their families. Huang said Nvidia will keep sponsoring H‑1B employees (it currently sponsors roughly 1,400 visas) and will cover the new fees for immigrant staff. His remarks underscore the human and corporate costs of the change and reflect tech leaders’ split responses: some, like OpenAI’s Sam Altman, have supported the reforms as a way to streamline entry for top talent, while others see it as a barrier to opportunity. For the AI/ML community, the policy shift is consequential. A $100k fee changes the economics of hiring foreign talent and could concentrate H‑1B use on only the highest‑value roles, potentially eliminating the lottery and increasing certainty for those jobs — but reducing serendipitous hires and broader talent flows. Major tech employers already dominate H‑1B sponsorship (Amazon approved over 10,000 in FY2025; Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google each had 4,000+), so the fee could reshape hiring strategies, staffing costs, and long‑term innovation pipelines. Nvidia’s commitment to pay fees is a short‑term mitigation, but industry-wide impacts will depend on whether the policy is adjusted or challenged.