H-1B Price Tag Soars

H-1B visas could cost as much as $100,000 for new applicants.

Author

Ankit Sinha
September 22, 2025

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🎯 In this issue:

  • Banana Bits: Finance headlines that actually matter

  • Market Summary: Stocks rise as Trump shocks with $100K H-1B visa fee

  • What’s Ripe / Rotten: The tastiest and most disgusting stocks 

  • Technical Trip: Interview Q&A from Moelis

  • Deal Dispatch: M&A, IPOs, and other transactions 

  • The Daily Poll: See how you stack up

Market Snapshot

📉 Banana Bits

Market Recap

A $100,000 Trip to the U.S.

Donald Trump slapped a $100,000 application fee on the widely used program, H-1B visas. 

Tech companies such as Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon sent messages to affected employees telling them to return to the U.S. on Saturday and cancel any plans to depart the country; however, it was later clarified that the fee would only be applied to new applicants. 

Apart from that, the Friday’s stock market was relatively calm, with indexes notching up some additional gains, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 gaining 0.49% and 0.72% respectively. 

The market is expected to be volatile this coming Friday as the PCE and PCE core are expected to be released. The Fed's preferred was up 0.3% month over month and 2.6% year over year at the headline level in July. Core PCE hit its highest level since February.

What's Ripe

22nd Century Group (XXII) 11.9%

  • Shares surged after the company announced it is now debt-free following repayment of $3.9M in senior secured debt. 

  • Backed by new growth capital from its Series A preferred offering, XXII plans to expand its very low nicotine (VLN) tobacco leaf inventory, supporting production of 1M+ cartons of VLN products.

FedEx Corp. (FDX) 2.3%

  • FDX popped 2.3% in Friday trading after the company reported profit and revenue above analyst estimates.

  • This proves the effectiveness of the cost-cutting measures and strength in domestic deliveries that help offset weaker international volumes.

What's Rotten

Hess Midstream (HESM) 10.4%

  • Shares slipped after the company cut FY2025 guidance and flagged flat 2026 adjusted EBITDA due to Chevron.

  • Despite near-term pressure, HESM reaffirmed plans for at least 5% annual distribution growth through 2027, supported by rising free cash flow.

Lennar Corp. (LEN) 4.2%

  • LEN fell -4.2% after the homebuilder reported a lower third-quarter profit.

  • The company also forecasted fourth-quarter home deliveries below estimates.

🧠 Technical Trip

Q&A with Moelis

👉 Want 1-on-1 recruiting help from Moelis bankers & 2,000+ top mentors? Apply to WSO Academy

🦈 Deal Dispatch

M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions

📊The Daily Poll

$100K H-1B visa fee is…

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Previous Poll:

BOJ likely keeping rates steady is…

Right move: 60.4% // Too cautious: 20.8% // Risky: 8.3% // Doesn’t matter: 10.5%

Student Success Corner

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Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

An object thrown directly upward is at a height of h feet after t seconds, where h = -16(t - 3)^ 2 + 150. At what height, in feet, is the object 2 seconds after it reaches its maximum height?

Answer: 86

Today

A researcher plans to identify each participant in a certain medical experiment with a code consisting of either a single letter or a pair of distinct letters written in alphabetical order. What is the least number of letters that can be used if there are 12 participants, and each participant is to receive a different code?

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The job of the investor is to observe what is happening, not what should be happening.

Bill Miller

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Happy Investing,
Chris, Vyom, Ankit, Mitchell, Colin, & Patrick