Amazon, Google, and Microsoft tell H-1B employees to rush back to the US

IMPORTANT ADVISORY: New travel restriction for H-1B visa holders

Hi all–We have now reviewed the actual text of today’s Presidential Proclamation on H-1B visas, which you can find here: Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers – The White House.

Here’s what you need to know:

First, the proclamation is structured as a travel restriction. Beginning at 12:01 am eastern time on September 21, 2025 (so, 9:01 pm Pacific time tomorrow), individuals will not be able to enter/return to the U.S. in H-1B status unless their petition has an additional $100,000 payment associated with it.

What you need to do:

I will be updating this post later this evening with a form for people to fill out if they are currently outside the U.S. with an H-1B visa. We want to be able to follow up with each individual and provide support and guidance as they try to return within the next 28 hours.

The proclamation does not impact any other visa statuses.

There is other content about the pause in processing H-1B petitions for individuals who are outside the U.S. At this time, we do not interpret this to immediately impact extensions of H-1B status or changes of status to H-1B as long as you are currently in the U.S. We’ll share more about that later.