Charan Ralhan

Yes, absolutely. The pandemic normalized remote work, and companies realized that talent can contribute just as effectively from abroad. With higher visa fees, businesses—especially startups—will run the math: - Hire one engineer in Silicon Valley and pay six figures plus visa costs. - Or hire two equally skilled engineers abroad with no visa hassles. Remote collaboration tools like Slack, Zoom, and GitHub already bridge the gap. For cost-sensitive companies, this is a no-brainer. The only reason to still bring people physically to the U.S. is for proximity to clients, investors, or product teams. But unless face-to-face presence is crucial, the fee hike will accelerate the global remote workforce trend.