Nine months since the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on first-time H-1B visa approvals took effect, some top unicorns are actually hiring more H-1B employees than they did before, according to a PitchBook analysis of federal employment data.

The hefty fee—which President Donald Trump cast as a way to curb H-1B hiring and steer well-paid technical jobs to American workers—has widened the gap between the best-funded startups and everyone else.

Employment experts say the uptick in hiring of foreign workers among the top 30 US startups by valuation reflects the cutthroat race for AI talent. The best-funded labs are competing for a thin pool of senior researchers and engineers, and the fee, so far, has done little to deter companies sitting on billions in venture capital.

Maxine Bayley, a partner at Duane Morris focused on immigration law, has had zero clients pay the fee so far. That’s because they’ve shifted their hiring practices, she said, prioritizing H-1B transfers from other companies and other hiring mechanisms that do not trigger the $100,000 fee.

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