On Friday, the White House confirmed a drastic change to the H-1B program: a $100,000 fee for each new H-1B petition, with officials clarifying it applies prospectively to new petitions, not current visa holders. The rollout has been chaotic, but the direction is clear: H-1B hiring is about to get slower, riskier, and far more expensive for U.S. companies.
If you’re used to budgeting around a $215 H-1B lottery registration fee plus standard USCIS charges, that calculus just died. Even under pre-announcement rules, USCIS set the cap registration at $215 for FY-2026; the new policy turns that rounding error into a line item big enough to trigger board questions.
Why this hits your budget twice: the new six-figure H-1B fee doesn’t just add cost to visa hires; it constrains supply and pushes U.S. market rates up. When local salaries and contractor rates rise, the historical ~40% savings you get from nearshore in LATAM and nearshore Canada tends to widen, not shrink. That’s budget clarity you can actually plan around.
Below is what this likely means for your recruiting plan and how nearshore in LATAM and nearshore in Canada protects delivery, budget, and time-to-hire.
What the new H-1B policy means for employers
- Budget impact: A one-time $100K fee on new H-1B petitions will dwarf prior filing costs. Even if it avoids current holders, any new headcount via H-1B becomes a capital decision, not an operating tweak.
- Timeline and risk: Sudden policy shifts introduce processing uncertainty, travel anxiety for candidates, and internal delay while legal teams interpret guidance. That creates delivery risk on in-flight roadmaps.
- Talent strategy pressure: U.S. teams that rely on H-1B new grads and early-career imports will need alternatives that preserve speed and quality without regulatory whiplash.
Nearshoring beats rewriting your product roadmap to appease immigration policy
1) Nearshore in LATAM: same time zones, lower total cost, fast starts
Latin America gives you senior engineers, data pros, and cloud specialists working in North American time zones, embedded directly with your team, without U.S. visa exposure. DevEngine’s model is all-inclusive on compliance, payroll, and HR, so your managers just… manage. Rates are predictable, with typical all-in price points for nearshore engineers that remain a fraction of U.S. total loaded H-1B costs under the new fee regime. Expect to save at least 40% compared to local hiring costs.
DevEngine builds dedicated nearshore pods across Argentina, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, and more, integrating into your tools and ceremonies while we handle cross-border operations.
2) Nearshore Canada: hire engineers in Canada without the red tape drama
Need proximity, English-first teams, and enterprise norms? Nearshore Canada delivers senior engineers who know Canadian compliance and North American enterprise delivery. DevEngine operates a transparent markup model for Canadian contractors and offers two-week placement guarantees, ensuring velocity doesn’t nosedive if a perfect fit isn’t found.
3) Nearshore blend: Canada for leadership, LATAM for scale
A proven pattern: Canadian architect or tech lead + LATAM delivery pod for execution. This blend keeps stakeholder alignment and governance tight while scaling velocity at a sustainable cost.
Why teams are likely to move budgets from H-1B to nearshore right now
- Cost certainty and market dynamics: Avoid six-figure petition fees and the legal roulette that follows. Expect tighter local supply as H-1B costs rise, which can push up U.S. salary and contractor rates. If nearshore rates were already ~40% lower than comparable U.S. roles, the savings gap is likely to widen as domestic prices inflate. Redirect spend to delivery capacity, not bureaucracy.
- Speed to impact: Nearshore placements start fast and sidestep visa bottlenecks. Canadian contractors land within enterprise frameworks quickly; LATAM pods mirror your agile cadence in your time zone.
- Compliance handled: DevEngine covers contracts, payroll, and cross-border compliance in LATAM; in Canada, we maintain clean B2B engagement with transparent pricing and timecards.
- Less concentration risk: Distribute delivery capacity across Canada and LATAM to reduce single-policy shock. If Washington blinks, your roadmap doesn’t.
How DevEngine executes nearshore hiring without the usual staffing nonsense
- No bench, no recycled resumes: Every role is sourced to fit, not to fill a bench. Peer-led technical interviews validate real-world capability.
- Transparent pricing: Canadian contractors with fixed, published markups; LATAM teams on all-inclusive rates. One monthly invoice. No mystery math.
- Contract-to-core pathways: If you want to convert delivery capacity to lasting capability, we can evolve contractors and apprenticeships into a stable core without the usual “contract-to-hire” churn.
What to do this week
- Freeze H-1B-dependent headcount plans for new roles and model the $100K delta. If the ROI still clears, carry on. If not, nearshore capacity is the fastest relief valve.
- Stand up a pilot LATAM pod for a contained backlog slice; keep Canadian leadership for governance and stakeholder work. Measure cycle time and defect escape vs. your baseline.
- Lock a Canadian bench-free pipeline for critical roles you can’t risk to visa volatility (cloud, data, platform, QA). Expect transparent pricing, peer vetting, and a two-week fit guarantee.
If you need a Canada + LATAM plan that’s deployable in days, not quarters, DevEngine will scope a nearshore pod or Canadian contractor slate aligned to your stack, SLAs, and budget. Start a conversation!
