Cisco, Fidelity and how Trump’s $100K fee has changed Triangle H-1B visa hiring
I’m Brian Gordon, tech reporter for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source, a weekly newsletter on business, labor and technology in North Carolina.
Things I’ve found companies hate to discuss: the size of their Triangle workforces (especially after layoffs), their non-compete agreements, their local campus plans if their name rhymes with Snapple, and their hiring of skilled foreign workers on H-1B visas — specialized permits designed to fill positions in the absence of qualified U.S. candidates.
The largest Research Triangle Park employer, Fidelity Investments, is among the area’s top H-1B hirers, according to an N&O analysis of new federal labor data. Cisco Systems is one of the few companies that seems to seek at least as many H-1B workers in North Carolina. Both major employers declined to answer questions this week about their reliance on high-skilled visas or what impact the Trump administration’s recent $100,000 fee on certain H-1B visas has had.
Their caginess makes some sense. Immigration plus jobs makes for a combustible topic. Each year, the U.S. awards employers 85,000 H-1Bs through a lottery. Most of the visa workers are males in the tech sector, and the majority are Indian nationals. All must hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Even with the $100,000 fee, employers have already hit next year’s cap.
Critics argue companies favor H-1B workers over willing U.S. jobseekers. Foreign workers depend on their employers to remain in the country; an individual can be on an H-1B visa for up to six years, but they (and their families) might wait much longer for green cards — especially if they’re from India or China. Those are years when foreign workers might think twice about advocating for a raise, declining extra hours, helping to organize a union, or seeking higher pay elsewhere. If workers lose their job, even if they’ve been in the country for a decade, they have 60 days to find a new sponsor or self-deport.
“The attraction of cheap indentured labor is infinite,” said Ronil Hira, an associate professor of political science at Howard University and outspoken opponent of the current H-1B system.
When they do discuss H-1B visas, major tech companies insist there are in-demand skills American workers aren’t meeting. Others contend the program, though part of a flawed immigration system, is one of the best mechanisms for attracting top talent to the U.S. Or keeping “documented dreamers” who were raised in the country since a young age. “H-1B workers are really smart and really productive,” Rishi Oza, an attorney at Brown Immigration Law in Durham, said. “They go on to open companies and innovate.”
In September, the Trump administration added the $100,000 fee per H-1B visa application, a charge it later clarified would only be levied when an employer wants to hire a new H-1B worker living abroad. A company hiring a foreign student graduating from, say, NC State or UNC, would be exempt — both now and into the future. So would current H-1B visa holders.
“Most H-1B applicants are already here,” Oza said. What impact, then, has the $100,000 fee had on North Carolina H-1B employment? We’re only seven months out, but early data suggest one clear difference.
One signal of a company’s evolving interest in the program comes through its filing of Labor Condition Applications, or LCAs. This is an early, mandatory step in the H-1B application process. LCAs are meant to ensure companies pay visa holders a fair, prevailing wage and that hiring them won’t harm conditions for U.S. workers.
An employer can file an LCA and then not apply for an H-1B. And the U.S. Department of Labor doesn’t charge for filing, making it easy for employers to get lots of LCAs certified. Still, initial LCA filing data shows a shift in how large tech employers approach H-1Bs, and which workers gain an advantage:
- Companies filed fewer LCAs nationwide: 76,164 in the first full three months after the $100,000 fee, compared to 99,025 during the same period the previous year. That was a 23% drop.
- For workplaces in North Carolina, employers filed 5,044 LCAs in the post-fee period, which was sixth-most in the nation but lower than the state’s 2025 fiscal year pace (for context, the 2026 fiscal year started Oct. 1, 2025).
- Infosys, Cognizant Technology Solutions and Tata Consultancy Services filed far fewer LCAs in North Carolina after the $100,000 fee. “They source a ton of talent from overseas,” Oza said of these IT service firms. In the last full quarter before the fee, Infosys had led the state with 872 certified LCAs, followed by Cognizant (378) and Tata (279). After the fee, Infosys dropped to 227 filings, Cognizant to 139 and Tata below 50.
- Cisco and Fidelity didn’t see a dip in LCA filings. Bay Area-based Cisco led all North Carolina employers in LCA certification in FY 2025, with 1,913. In the first quarter of FY 2026, it had 594 certifications — ahead of last year’s pace.
- Fidelity was No. 5 statewide for LCA certifications last year. So far in FY 2026, it’s No. 3 (at a slightly higher pace than 2025). All of its filings were at its large Durham County campus.
- Despite several IT firms retreating from H-1Bs, the North Carolina employer with the most LCA certifications to start FY 2026 was the Canadian tech services company CGI Technologies and Solutions.
What hasn’t changed? The U.S. will again award 85,000 H-1Bs next year, just as it did this year and many years before. What’s different is which foreign workers have the best odds of getting a visa. People already in the country should see their chances rise.
“We saw the number of selections go way up,” Oza said of his local clients seeking H-1B visas.
This should be welcome news for North Carolina’s foreign students who wish to work in the U.S. after graduating, right? Like a lot of immigration policy, it’s always more complicated. Yes, already being here is an edge. But in December, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would start prioritizing H-1B visas for “higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens” with the stated intention of protecting against alleged exploitation.
Recent college graduates typically don’t qualify for higher-paid roles, no matter where they’re born.
Clearing my cache
- Tuesday was World Quantum Day. The quantum computing company IonQ, which spun out of Duke University, rang the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange.
- Apex is the latest North Carolina municipality to pass a one-year moratorium on new data center projects.
- President Donald Trump has refused to stop investigating Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a legally dubious pursuit that complicates the appointment of the next Fed chair. U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, has vowed to block any confirmation until the Powell probe concludes.
- Time named Greenville’s MrBeast one of the “100 Most Influential People of 2026.” “Survivor” host Jeff Probst wrote his entry.
- More data center news: Several of the planet’s richest companies operate data centers in North Carolina — with Amazon and Microsoft poised to join. Should the state keep offering specific data center tax breaks? It might be good if North Carolina at least made it possible for lawmakers to know exactly how much state tax revenue it’s missing out on.
- The erstwhile Triangle Tweener Fund announced its first startup investments since going statewide as the NC Tweener Fund (with $4 million from NC IDEA). Six early-stage tech companies got new investments: Beam Dynamics, BEAMRailL, OOGA Technologies, Lucid Bots, Spidr, NeuroTech Insights and Skillmaker.ai.
- North Carolina nixed a 2023 incentive for Auction Direct USA Raleigh to add 171 jobs at a car remodeling plant in the town of Oxford. The company left the community two years ago and even dissolved as an entity.
- The state wasn’t done canceling economic incentives this week, ending jobs grants for a plastics manufacturer southwest of Charlotte and a car catalyst maker in Hickory. Sticking near Charlotte, the department store retailer Macy’s missed initial hiring goals for its incentive-backed fulfillment center.
- Attorney General Jeff Jackson applauded a jury verdict finding Live Nation and Ticketmaster operate an illegal monopoly in live entertainment, leading to overcharged customers. Jackson was one of 34 attorneys general who remained on the case after the Trump administration settled.
National Tech Happenings
- The American Civil Liberties Union warned Meta that its reported plan to add facial recognition capabilities to its AI eyeglasses is “a red line society must not cross.”
- Volkswagen will stop making electric cars at its Chattanooga, Tennessee, factory, joining fellow auto manufacturers Ford, Honda and General Motors in braking EV production.
- What’s next for NASA after Artemis II? The agency says the U.S. will place a nuclear reactor on the moon and construct the first interplanetary spacecraft powered by a nuclear reactor. It’s destination: Mars.
Thanks for reading!
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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 6:45 AM with the headline "Cisco, Fidelity and how Trump’s $100K fee has changed Triangle H-1B visa hiring."
