Increase in H-1B visa cost ‘manageable’, HSBC UK's Michael Roberts says
HSBC has had a frantic weekend because of the initial uncertainty over how the H-1B visa changes would be applied and enforced.
The increase in H1-B visa costs for foreign employees in the United States is “manageable”, an HSBC Holdings executive said, as the London-based lender has fewer workers there than some of its peers or major technology firms.
“We don’t have a huge amount of visa holders,” Michael Roberts, who heads the HSBC's corporate and institutional banking division, told Bloomberg TV in an interview on Monday. “For us, it is manageable.” It may be a “much bigger issue” for other financial services companies and tech firms he added.
The Trump administration has raised the application fee for H-1B visas to $100,000 as part of efforts to protect American jobs and strengthen national security. The move has sparked chaos and alarm among global companies, especially in the technology sector, which rely on the H-1B visa program to bring skilled workers to the US from abroad. Finance companies and consulting firms also use the facility.
Companies with the greatest number of H-1B visas are Amazon.com Inc., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and Apple Inc., according to the US government. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Walmart Inc. rank 8th and 9th, according to US government data.
Roberts said that like other firms, HSBC had a frantic weekend because of the initial uncertainty over how the change would be applied and enforced. A White House official eventually clarified that the fee only affects new visas—not renewals or current visa holders—and will be applied in the upcoming lottery cycle.
“It was unfortunate because the initial policy was unclear as to whether it was retroactive or prospective,” Roberts said. “Now they’ve clarified.”
