As a technology executive, your role is as much about risk management as innovation. A fragile talent pipeline is one of the greatest risks to your roadmap and valuation.
Dependence on the H-1B system creates exactly that fragility: unpredictable costs, uncertain outcomes, and lost productivity. This article analyzes the financial and operational risks of the H-1B model — and shows how nearshore hiring with Howdy.com eliminates them, replacing risk with certainty.
Quantifying the financial risk of H-1B
H-1B applications carry significant costs, many with no guarantee of return:
- Attorney fees: $3,000–$7,000 per application (sunk cost)
- USCIS filing fees: $2,000–$8,000, often non-refundable
- Requests for evidence (RFEs): $2,000+ in additional delays and legal fees
- Opportunity cost of failure: $50,000+ in lost productivity and restarting recruitment
No CFO would accept this kind of risk in any other part of the business.
The stability deficit: how uncertainty cripples roadmaps
Financial costs are only part of the problem. Visa uncertainty makes planning impossible:
- You can’t assign lottery-dependent employees to critical projects.
- A denied or expired visa disrupts morale and erases institutional knowledge.
- Your roadmap becomes hostage to forces outside your control.
The Howdy.com model: your firewall against risk
Nearshore hiring with Howdy.com is predictable by design:
- Certainty of process: No lotteries or government delays. We deliver vetted engineers in weeks.
- Certainty of quality: Multi-layer vetting by senior engineers ensures talent is elite, not just available.
This combination eliminates both process risk and the risk of underperformance.
Conclusion
A pipeline built on H-1B is a pipeline built on sand. The costs are high, the uncertainty is crippling, and the risks are unacceptable.
Howdy.com replaces that fragility with stability. Our nearshore model provides elite engineers, transparent rates, and predictable access to talent, so you can scale with confidence. Stop gambling on immigration — and start investing in certainty.