H-1B visa fee shock: Former X employee credits Indian, Chinese engineers for Twitter survival after Elon Musk’s takeover

Esther Crawford, a former executive of X (previously known as Twitter), took to social media on Monday to hail the contributions of H-1B engineers, mostly from India and China, in keeping "Twitter/X" alive after the social media platform was taken over by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Crawford hit out at anti-immigrant rhetoric on X, saying the platform itself survived because of H-1B engineers, many from India and China, who worked tirelessly during the company's takeover period.

She said they worked long hours during critical times.

According to news agency ANI, Crawford had served as the Director of Product Management during the company's takeover and rebranding as X.

"Twitter/X survived because of H-1B engineers, mostly from India & China. They stayed after the acquisition, worked long hours and solved brutally complex problems alongside American colleagues. When posting anti-immigrant takes, remember: they're the reason you can tweet at all," she wrote on X.

H-1B visa new rules

Esther Crawford's remarks came after US President Donald Trump signed an H-1B visa proclamation on September 19, imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications.

The US State Department on Sunday (local time) issued a clarification on Trump's order, debunking many false claims about H1-B visa rules.

The state department stressed that the new H-1B rules "do not apply to any previously issued H-1B visas, or any petitions submitted prior to 12:01 am Eastern Daylight Time on September 21, 2025."

It further clarified that the new fee requirement applies only to individuals or companies filing fresh petitions or entering the lottery system after September 21. Current visa holders and applications submitted before that date remain unaffected.

What is US' H-1B programme?

The H-1B programme allows US employers to hire foreign workers in speciality fields such as technology and engineering, and higher fees threaten to raise labour costs for tech companies that depend heavily on this talent pipeline.

Over 70% of these visas went to Indian nationals last year, US data showed. During Trump's first term, the administration tightened visa approvals and raised scrutiny of applications, moves that drew lawsuits from industry groups.

Amazon, Google parent Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft are consistently among the top corporate sponsors of H-1B visas, data shows, underscoring their dependence on foreign engineers and developers to fuel growth in areas such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

How will Trump govt's decision on H-1B visas impact companies?

The Trump administration's proposed $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas widely used by tech firms to hire foreign talent could deal a blow to the sector that relies heavily on skilled workers from India and China.

Analysts told Reuters that the impact should be moderate, given that the fees apply only to new applications, but warned that a constrained supply of skilled workers in the US may push wages higher and squeeze margins.

Bernstein analysts said, “From an industry perspective, the massive fee increase in the H-1B visa application fee can increase pressure to hire local resources, in our view.”

They said this will also accelerate the use of Generative AI/agentic AI to limit the potential salary increase due to the scarcity of IT resources. "We expect US-based technology providers to actively lobby the US administration to soften the impact."

Some even said that by making it very expensive for companies to attract foreign talent, and by forcing some international students to leave the country after graduation, “the brain drain will weigh heavily on productivity”.

(With inputs from agencies)