Since 1990, the United States has offered its H1-B program to foreign talent as a way to obtain temporary work opportunities in the US. These visas are renewable and often times offer a pathway to citizenship, which often times also allowed for H1-B workers to bring over their families and extended relatives. The United States employs the largest number of foreign-born individuals than anywhere in the world with the largest shares of visa holders currently coming from India (71%) and China (11%). The continuum of H1-B visas being approved and distributed each year has increased an estimate of 200,000 since 2019. While the H1-B program seems promising for hopeful outsiders wanting the opportunity to live and work in the United States, the visa program has faced serious criticism and backlash over the years.
American-born citizens claim that the H1-B program unfairly prioritizes foreign nationals over Americans for American jobs. And while this topic of discussion has gained substantial traction online over the last five or so years, it wasn’t until September of 2025 that change was enforced at the will of the people. Per The White House correspondence:
“On September 19, 2025, Trump signed a proclamation imposing a $100,000 payment requirement on certain new H-1B cases involving workers outside the United States. The White House subsequently clarified that the fee does not apply to existing H-1B holders or ordinary renewals.”
While the intention behind this move was to restrict new H1-B visas being created so as to not overwhelm the job market with foreign talent, it seems to have had a knock-on effect that raises the question: could current migration patterns cause the housing market to fall if foreigners continue to leave?
Of course, H1-B workers are still able to stay and work in the US as long as their visa allows. However, some workers have family members that may not qualify to stay, have removal orders, or elected to go home voluntarily as USCIS cracks down on visas and immigration. Interestingly, job security among H1-B workers is rapidly deteriorating with the rise of AI, a system that can largely be credited to the foreign talent. The share of H1-B workers that came to the USA to work in tech is estimated to be 64% according to the USCIS. More backlash has come of this as well, as H1-B workers and advocates suggest that foreign talent was brought in and exploited for cheap labor to build a system that would inevitably destabilize job security in the field of technology, for all. This has left visa workers with little to no path forward for work in the US, forcing them to try for a new visa with a different job, which is unlikely and difficult to do when starting the visa process all over, stay and risk deportation, try for work in another country or go home voluntarily.
Furthermore, recent fraud investigations have resulted in an estimated 100,000 overall visa revocations. This includes, but is not limited to, the crackdown on improperly distributed CDL licenses, which resulted in the revocation of some 28,000 CDL licenses.
The “mass exodus” of H1-B visa holders retuning to their home countries has left a major gap in the US housing market, as rent slowly decreases and foreclosures rapidly spike in areas like Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami. All major hubs for H1-B workers and foreign born individuals alike. The current areas seeing the largest downturn in housing as of recent data are central Texas, the bay area in California, and Southern Florida, according to Realtor.com. Although the exodus of homeowners is not enough to destabilize the housing market on its own, other economic factors are at play.
New housing is constantly being built in all areas mentioned above, but builders appear to have created more housing and development than the areas are able to absorb at this time, causing a drop in demand and putting more pressure on developers. And while housing and rent prices seem to be decreasing, HOA fees, insurance, property taxes and other financial burdens continue to make it hard on homeowners to afford their homes.
Migration patterns and shifts in employment landscape are part of the ebb and flow of macroeconomics. Yet, even with the demographic changes, drops in demand, and little information about the future of oil and means of production, major players on Wall Street such as JP Morgan still predict a 3% increase in home value into 2027.
(This article is an op-ed. All sources are current and correct to my knowledge. This article is written without recourse.)
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