{
  "id": 17004860,
  "title": "Visa fees are soaring, but founders want US revenue more than US investors",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/visa-fees-are-soaring-but-founders-want-us-revenue-more-than-us",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-29T03:14:54.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "e27",
    "slug": "e27",
    "url": "https://e27.co/visa-fees-are-soaring-but-founders-want-us-revenue-more-than-us-investors-20261029/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "U.S. immigration policies have become increasingly restrictive and costly for foreign talent seeking to work in America, according to a recent survey conducted by Singapore-based immigration platform Beyond Border. Despite the challenges, 82% of the 307 founders surveyed, mostly from Asia, have not altered their expansion plans in the U.S. due to a lack of concern over immigration uncertainty. Instead, 85% of the respondents prioritize access to U.S. customers as their primary motivation for expansion, while only 8% are focused on fundraising or investor networks.\n\nThe majority of the startups surveyed are in seed (35%), bootstrapped (28%), or pre-seed (20%) stages, with only 5% having reached Series B or beyond. These companies view the U.S. primarily as a sales territory rather than a capital strategy, as they are less likely to attract investments from venture capitalists. The policy climate has seen recent changes, including a proposed $103,265 annual fee for new H-1B visas and a decrease in L-1 petitions while green-card approvals for top talent has decreased. The findings indicate that the U.S. immigration system is becoming an obstacle for many founders, who are instead focusing on establishing a presence in the American market to sell to U.S. customers.",
  "summary": "Washington has spent the past year making it harder, pricier and more nerve-racking for foreign talent to work in America. Asian founders, if a new survey is to be believed, have mostly shrugged. Singapore-founded immigration platform Beyond Border’s August 2026 Founder Mobility Pulse found that 82 per cent of respondents had not changed their US […] The post Visa fees are soaring, but founders…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}