This discussion will unpack the wide-ranging implications for companies, universities, startups, and the global innovation ecosystem.

Organizers

ICAS

Description

This discussion will examine the sweeping changes to the H-1B visa program following the newly imposed $100,000 annual fee on new petitions. We’ll explore how these changes may affect U.S. competitiveness, tech talent flows, immigration law, and broader economic growth — as well as the global implications if talent shifts elsewhere.

Speakers

Tahmina Watson

Founding Attorney, Watson Immigration Law

Giovanni Peri

C. Bryan Cameron Distinguished Professor of Economics, and Founder & Director, UC Davis and the Global Migration Center

Yingyi Ma

Professor and Nonresident Senior Fellow, Sociology Department, Syracuse University and Foreign Policy Program at Brookings

Denis Simon

Chairman, Alliance of Global Talent Organizations (AGTO)

Guided Questions

Tahmina Watson

As one of the country’s leading voices on business immigration, how do you see the new $100K H-1B visa fee affecting startups and small companies that rely on global talent to scale, and what unintended consequences might this create for America’s innovation ecosystem? Drawing on your experience advocating for entrepreneurs and writing The Startup Visa, what alternative policy approaches could the U.S. adopt to attract and retain founders, investors, and skilled workers while still addressing concerns about program misuse?

Giovanni Peri

Drawing on your extensive research on the economic impact of immigration, how do you expect the new $100K H-1B visa fee to affect the U.S. labor market, particularly in sectors like technology and healthcare that depend heavily on foreign talent? Given your work on the broader determinants of international migration, could policies like this reshape global mobility patterns by pushing high-skilled workers toward alternative destinations such as Canada or Europe, and what long-term consequences might that have for U.S. competitiveness?

Denis Simon

Given your long-standing research on Sino-US technological cooperation and international talent flows, how do you see the new $100K H-1B visa fee reshaping the U.S. position in the global competition for talent? Will this accelerate the movement of researchers and innovators toward Europe and Asia, or can the U.S. still maintain its edge? Drawing on your leadership experience at Duke Kunshan University and your work on global R&D systems, what impact do you expect these new visa rules will have on higher education, joint research, and cross-border innovation partnerships? Could this policy inadvertently weaken the very networks that have fueled U.S. technological leadership?

Yingyi Ma

As a leading scholar on Chinese students in American higher education, how do you see the proposed$100K H-1B visa fee shaping the decisions of Chinese students who view U.S. study as a pathway to career opportunities? Could this discourage future enrollment and alter the flow of talent from China to the U.S.? Drawing on your research on the trans-Pacific education and migration pipeline, what long-term implications might these visa policies have for U.S.-China academic exchange, joint research, and the ability of American institutions to remain a top destination for ambitious Chinese talent?