As H-1B visa changes keep coming, biopharmas adjust hiring approach

Recent and proposed changes to the H-1B visa program are making it less likely that those born outside of the United States will find employment at U.S. biopharmas.

One of the most recent and significant adjustments to H-1B visas is the $100,000 fee for new petitions, which a high cost for employers, especially smaller companies. Intended to prioritize American workers by restricting entry into the U.S. by nonimmigrants seeking jobs in specialty occupations, the fee went into effect last year. Last month, the Trump administration extended it through Sept. 21, 2027.

Court challenges have resulted in two federal judges blocking the fee. The first ruling was in June, two months after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting H-1B cap-subject petitions for applicants whose registrations had been selected. The second came late last month, after the fee extension.

Despite the rulings, the $100,000 fee has affected who biopharmas employ. Dave Bowers, managing director and global head of life sciences search firm EPM Scientific, told BioSpace, “The fee effectively shut the door on hiring talent from overseas.”

U.S. biotech hiring teams, he said, have pivoted to focus on talent already in the United States, such as those transferring their H-1B visa from one employer to another, U.S. nationals, U.S. graduates, U.S. citizens and green card holders.

“Whereas before, we would look at international communities and candidates based outside of the U.S., there is a laser focus on those that are authorized to work in the U.S. today,” Bowers said.

There has been a particular hiring challenge, he noted, for roles in computational biology, AI in drug discovery, cell and gene therapy, process development and biostatistics.

“These are often talent pools that have been international in their makeup, and clients are now limited in who they can look to identify to drive their program or their project forward,” Bowers said.

Audrea Golding, a partner at immigration law firm Fragomen, has also seen the $100,000 fee impact biopharma hiring. She told BioSpace that when the H-1B lottery opened earlier this year, the not-yet-blocked fee was a significant consideration for biotech and pharma companies, especially startups.

“A lot of companies did not put people into the lottery, believing that the $100,000 fee was going to be payable if that person was outside of the U.S. or had to go outside of the U.S. before their H-1B could be granted,” Golding said.

The lottery, or selection process, takes place when H-1B visa registrations are so high that subsequent petitions would surpass the annual cap of 65,000. An additional 20,000 petitions for those who have earned a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution are exempt from the cap.

Recent data underscores companies’ reluctance to participate in the H-1B visa program this year. In May, USCIS announced that the number of properly submitted H-1B registrations dropped from 343,981 in fiscal year 2026 to 211,600 in fiscal year 2027, a 38.5% decrease.

Still, Golding expects that next year, some companies will err on the side of using the H-1B lottery given the recent rulings blocking the fee.

“I think that was a big lesson from this year was that the companies who made the decision not to put people into the lottery because of the concern of the $100,000 fee ultimately lost the ability to bring people in that they otherwise could have had for their companies because of the legal injunction,” she said.

Both Bowers and Golding agreed the H-1B fee’s impact on hiring is most felt by smaller companies such as startups and small to medium-sized biotechs, for whom $100,000 is a prohibitive amount.

“I think the reality is Big Pharma can absorb a large cost for a critical hire, whereas a series A company can’t necessarily do that,” Bowers said.

He also noted that the H-1B visa policy further narrows the pool of early phase research and development (R&D) talent. For employers, Bowers said, that means a longer time to hire and, at times, paying premium salaries for niche and individual skills. From a job seeker’s perspective, he noted that companies’ hesitancy to hire R&D professionals who need H-1B visas has some candidates choosing to stay in academia in their own countries.

Golding highlighted the $100,000 fee’s impact on those who came to the United States as students, completed their four-year program and were looking forward to starting their careers in the U.S. There has been uncertainty about whether employers that recruit them will sponsor them, she explained.

“To have that concern around whether or not a company is going to ultimately then be willing to put them into the lottery was pretty nerve wracking, I would say, for a lot of folks,” Golding said.

Another recent change to the H-1B visa program that Golding said affects biopharma hiring is the new weighted selection process, which favors allocating visas to higher-skilled, higher-paid people. Starting in fiscal year 2027, which runs from Oct. 1, 2026, to Sept. 30, 2027, those at the lowest of four wage levels get one entry into the selection pool, while those in the highest level receive four.

That allocation could soon change. In March, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed adjusting how it calculates wage levels for various visa programs, including the H-1B, so levels better align with what is paid to similarly employed U.S. workers. Such revisions could reduce the incentive for employers to use visa programs to replace, rather than supplement, U.S. workers by employing lower-paid foreign-born professionals, according to DOL.

The proposed changes, Golding said, could result in someone falling from a higher wage level to a lower one and receiving fewer entries into the selection pool. She noted that students have been concerned about how that would affect their chances to get selected in a lottery.

Two other proposed H-1B visa changes that Golding said could affect biopharma hiring were put forth by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in August:

• A $103,265 fee for all H-1B cap-subject petitions. The fee is meant to generate revenue to recover some of the federal government’s costs for administering the immigration system.
• Revised eligibility for H-1B cap exemptions. The goals for that proposal include providing greater scrutiny for employers that have violated program requirements. DHS has not specified what the revisions would entail.

Regarding the revised eligibility proposal, Golding noted that biopharma research organizations that are now cap exempt could lose that status.

Looking ahead to 2027, Bowers expects that biopharma companies’ reluctance to hire and employ people who require H-1B visas will stay high, especially for early career roles. However, he added, demand isn’t going anywhere.

“The U.S. needs more skilled workers within biomanufacturing, quality, R&D, etc., not less,” he said. “Those that win are going to develop U.S. talent and are going to be in a position to fill those specialist roles quickly.”