The U.S. recently introduced a $100K H1B sponsorship fee,a steep new cost for companies hiring foreign talent through the H1B visa program. The fee covers government processing, compliance checks and administrative costs, but for startups, it changes everything.

Founders already stretching every dollar now face the reality of spending six figures before a single line of code ships. Interestingly, the costs don’t stop there as paperwork drags on for months, teams stay understaffed and product deadlines slip all while competitors with faster hiring cycles ship features, win customers and grab market share. For early-stage companies, such slowdown is unsustainable and it is why more founders are turning to distributed hiring via RemotePass to build teams faster, at a fraction of the $100k cost.

But before we get to the solution, let’s look at the real price tag of a single H1B hire.

What’s the true cost of an H1B hire?

The $100K sponsorship fee is only the start. Add months of processing time, attorney fees, and uncertainty around approvals, and that single engineer or product manager suddenly becomes a very expensive bet.

Let’s break it down:

• Visa sponsorship fee: $100K upfront
• The new rule alone inflates the cost of hiring one candidate before you even discuss salary, benefits, or equity. For some early-stage startups, that’s the size of an entire seed funding round allocation for talent.
• Attorney and compliance fees: $10K+
• Most startups hire attorneys to prepare petitions, review documentation and reduce the risk of application errors. Legal fees typically cross $10,000 per candidate once you account for consultations, filings and compliance oversight.
• Processing timelines: 3–6 months or longer
• Even with premium processing, visas can take months. That’s months of product delays, open headcount and extra workload falling on your existing team.
• Opportunity cost: delayed product launches, missed deadlines, slow growth
• Every month a critical role stays unfilled, competitors move faster. Teams push back launch dates.

So where does that leave founders?

Either they absorb these costs and delays or they look for a faster, more cost-effective way to build teams.

That’s where distributed hiring comes in.

Distributed hiring: a faster, smarter alternative to HB1 visa

Distributed hiring lets startups build teams where the talent already lives: fully compliant, fully supported, and ready to work in days instead of months.

Employer of record (EOR) platforms like RemotePass makes this simple. For $349 per employee per month, founders get:

• Automated onboarding: New hires are set up and ready to work in days.
• Payroll and tax compliance: Run payroll across 150+ countries, including complex markets like MENA and LATAM, with taxes handled automatically.
• Health insurance and benefits: Delivered in line with local labor laws so employees stay protected.
• Scalable hiring: Add new roles without creating legal entities or juggling multiple vendors.

The cost stays predictable, the process stays fast and founders can put the $100K they would have spent on one visa hire toward building entire teams in emerging markets where talent is strong and costs are lower.

Why founders are switching to EOR in 2025

The $100K H1B fee has forced founders to look beyond traditional methods, and Employer of Record (EOR) platforms are stepping in as the clear alternative. Here’s why the shift is happening fast:

Cost-efficiency that extends runway

Instead of spending six figures on one role, startups use the same budget to hire three, four or even five people in markets where salaries are lower but talent quality is world-class. With transparent pricing like RemotePass’ $349 per employee per month, founders know exactly what they’re paying and investors see a longer runway with less overhead.

Faster hiring cycles

While a visa hire takes 3–6 months to clear paperwork, EOR hiring takes 1–7 days. That speed means products ship faster, customers see features sooner and startups stay ahead.

Scalability

With EOR, startups don’t need to open local legal entities to hire in new markets. Whether it’s one engineer in Poland or a full design team in Egypt, founders can add roles across 150+ countries without redoing legal paperwork each time. It’s a hiring model that scales as fast as the company grows.

Financial scenarios: H1B vs. EOR at a glance

The $100K H1B fee limits how much talent you can bring on board in comparison to EOR hiring for the same budget. Here’s what the number looks like:

Scenario 1: One U.S. engineer vs. three engineers in Eastern Europe

Key takeaway: For less than the cost of one U.S. engineer via H1B, you can hire three engineers abroad and start work months earlier.

Scenario 2: One U.S. product manager vs. Full LATAM team

Key takeaway: One U.S. hire budget covers a full cross-functional team in LATAM, ready to ship features in weeks, not months.

Get started With RemotePass

Switching to distributed hiring is straightforward. Founders can go from idea to fully compliant hires in days, often for less than the cost of a single visa hire.

Here’s how:

Step 1: Book a quick demo

• See how RemotePass manages payroll, compliance, benefits, and onboarding across 150+ countries in one platform. No jargon or long sales calls, we simply walk you what hiring globally could look like for your startup.

Step 2: Access our Founder’s Hiring Playbook

• Get salary benchmarks by region, role, and seniority so you know exactly what top talent costs in LATAM, Eastern Europe, MENA, and beyond.

Step 3: Hire fully compliant talent in under a week

• Once you’ve identified the right candidate, RemotePass handles local contracts, tax compliance, benefits, and payroll. Your new hire starts work in days, not months, without legal headaches or multiple vendors.

Get started now.