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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsSonu Aggarwal, named TiE Seattle president in September 2025, said the new $100,000 H-1B payment could make it harder for startups to hire talent and plan for growth. His warning is a founder’s forecast about cost and uncertainty, not proof that the policy has reduced startup creation or innovation. As of October 8, 2026, the White House says the restriction and payment framework will remain in place through September 21, 2027, with limited discretionary exceptions.
What Aggarwal said about the H-1B payment
In a September 26, 2025 interview with GeekWire, Aggarwal called the change “very, very disruptive.” He said founders need a predictable business environment to take entrepreneurial risks, and warned that sudden policy shifts can weaken that confidence.
“That entrepreneurial spirit, that energy — it’s like a flame you want to keep growing and keep feeding,” he said. “Such things have a way of almost snuffing out the flame.”
Aggarwal’s perspective reflects his experience: the profile identifies him as a TiE Seattle founding member who founded three startups after graduating from MIT. He was named the organization’s president that week.
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Why the cost and uncertainty could matter to startups
A large upfront expense can weigh more on a small company
Aggarwal’s concern is not only the amount of the payment, but its effect on a young company’s limited cash and runway. A large per-worker expense may consume a greater share of a startup’s available funds than of a large employer’s budget, potentially affecting hiring plans or other spending. That is his assessment of the risk; the cited sources do not measure how much the payment has changed startup hiring or formation.
Policy predictability matters to hiring plans
Startups make staffing and financing decisions on the assumption that costs and rules can be estimated. If a policy changes abruptly, a company may have difficulty determining whether it can afford a planned hire or how that hire fits into its runway. Aggarwal said that without a long-term predictable business environment, he would not have chosen entrepreneurship after school.
What the $100,000 policy covers—and what changed
The September 2025 White House FAQ
The White House’s September 21, 2025 FAQ described a one-time $100,000 payment accompanying new H-1B petitions submitted after 12:01 a.m. EDT on September 21, 2025. Under that FAQ, the payment did not apply to previously issued H-1B visas, petitions submitted before the cutoff, or payments required for renewals. The FAQ also said current H-1B visa holders were not prevented from traveling in and out of the United States.
The September 2026 extension
On September 18, 2026, the White House issued a proclamation extending the restriction through September 21, 2027. It describes an entry restriction for certain H-1B workers, retains the $100,000 payment framework and allows limited discretionary national-interest exceptions. It says the Secretary of State will verify payment during visa processing. The 2025 FAQ and 2026 proclamation describe different points in the policy timeline; the later proclamation is the current official statement discussed here. Later agency guidance or court action could affect implementation.
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For a particular worker or petition, the relevant details include when the petition was submitted, whether the worker needs to enter the United States, and whether an exception applies. The sources cited here do not establish how every individual case will be handled.
How the White House describes the policy’s results
The 2026 proclamation presents the restriction as a way to deter what the administration characterizes as H-1B program abuse, protect U.S. workers and wages, and encourage selection of higher-skilled or higher-paid workers. Its reported figures are the administration’s claims, not independent findings that the payment caused the reported changes.
- The proclamation says payment had been made for more than 700 petitions since the 2025 proclamation took effect.
- It reports that registrations by the largest IT staffing and outsourcing firms fell from 24,946 to 2,055, a 92% decrease. That comparison concerns those firms, not all H-1B registrations.
- It reports a nearly 97% decrease in consular processing requests between the FY 2025 and FY 2027 cap seasons.
- It says the share of registrants with at least a U.S. master’s degree rose from 45.1% to 66.1% between FY 2026 and FY 2027.
- It reports that job offers at the two highest wage levels made up approximately 46.3% of selections, compared with 17.8% at the lowest wage level.
- As context for its worker-protection rationale, it cites recent-college-graduate unemployment of 5.7% in June 2026 and 5.8% in September 2025, and underemployment of 42% and 41.8%, respectively.
These statistics do not independently show whether startups have faced greater difficulty hiring, whether the payment reduced startup formation, or whether innovation has changed. The cited sources do not provide a causal estimate of those effects.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the issue has a local Seattle dimension
GeekWire’s September 2025 story reported 10,044 H-1B approvals issued to Amazon employees and 5,189 issued to Microsoft employees “this year,” ranking the companies first and third in its contemporaneous account. Those are period-specific figures from the article, not current totals.
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The profile also said TiE Seattle began in 2000 and attributed more than $16 billion in collective startup market value to companies created by its members. That organizational figure offers local context for Aggarwal’s concern about the conditions facing founders; it does not establish the policy’s economic impact.
What founders and workers can take from the debate
Aggarwal’s warning highlights a financial-planning question for startups: how a substantial hiring expense and changing rules might affect cash runway and recruitment decisions. The White House frames the policy differently, emphasizing deterrence and worker protections. The available sources establish those competing arguments and the administration’s reported program statistics, but do not settle the effect on startup creation or innovation.
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