Wall Street’s H-1B hiring slows under new rules

Last year, big banks reacted differently to tighter H-1B visa rules that made the process pricier. Some like JPMorgan cut back sharply, while others like Citi actually filed more papers. The changes came fast: a $100, 000 fee, social media checks, and a lottery that now favors higher-paid applicants. Federal data shows big Wall Street players sent in 10% fewer approved visa requests in October-December 2025 than they did a year earlier. What we see now is just a quarterly snapshot—not the full picture. Final numbers could shift again as hiring waves move through the year. Still, the drop is real. JPMorgan alone went from 724 approved requests down to 516, a nearly 29% fall. Goldman Sachs saw an even steeper drop of over 60%. Both banks mostly target tech roles when they use these visas.Other banks took a different path. Citi’s requests climbed close to 20%, Barclays jumped two-thirds, and Morgan Stanley rose a quarter. Capital One, up 4%, focused on data and AI roles, even snagging senior engineers. These numbers only show initial approvals—what finally happens in the visa lottery remains unseen. Why the split? Big banks aren’t saying. Silence suggests they’re still figuring out how the new rules fit their hiring. Meanwhile, immigration experts warn that constant rule changes make companies hesitant to sponsor visas at all. Tech hiring faces another headwind: fears that artificial intelligence might replace some white-collar jobs, especially in tech and finance.