Small Tech Founders Call for Fair H-1B Policy

ACTivists for Change: Members join forces in a letter to the White House, urging balanced, startup-friendly reforms

While national conversations about the H-1B program often focus on large companies, our members live a different reality. These teams are lean, product-driven, and often hire for highly specialized roles where the right expertise determines whether a product ships, a system scales, or a security posture holds.

This month, our members came together in a letter to the White House to underscore that proposed changes, particularly the $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions, would create barriers that fall disproportionately on smaller companies without the legal infrastructure or financial flexibility of larger companies.

ACTivists for Change

When access to specialized talent becomes cost-prohibitive, it slows innovation and shifts advantage toward the largest companies that can absorb costs or relocate work abroad. Maintaining a functional H-1B pathway ensures that small tech companies can continue building, hiring, and competing at the pace innovation demands.

The letter calls for a balanced policy approach that keeps the H-1B program workable for companies of all sizes. While there is strong domestic talent across the tech workforce, early-stage teams often hire niche technical positions tied to product development, cybersecurity, and infrastructure, positions where the required skill set can determine whether a company grows or stalls.

Our members are not asking for exceptions or shortcuts. They are asking to maintain a system that keeps the United States ahead in the global digital economy, one fueled by small, focused teams solving complex technical challenges.

What’s at Stake

Each year, thousands of high-skill technical roles across the United States go unfilled, especially in applied engineering, AI, and security, leaving innovation gaps that other countries are quick to fill. Raising H-1B fees will not close this gap, it will only limit startups’ ability to hire the talent they need to grow and compete globally.

Our members support strengthening domestic talent pipelines through education and fair wages. But without an accessible H-1B process, startups lose a vital bridge to the necessary technical depth during critical growth stages. A balanced system, one that continues to support both local training and global recruitment, is essential to sustain a workforce that is fair, competitive, and capable of keeping the United States at the forefront of innovation.

Interested in our H-1B advocacy? Reach out to Brad Simonich here for future activations and opportunities to get involved!