By Carlos A. Delcid

If you’re a tech founder right now, you’re likely facing a decision in the next 30 to 90 days.

You need engineers now. Not next year. Not after policy clears. Now.

The choice looks like this:

• Pay $100,000 per new H 1B application

• Add legal and filing costs on top

• Wait months for approvals and consular appointments

• Hope the person can actually enter or re enter the U.S. on your timeline

Or:

• Try to fill everything locally

• Compete at San Francisco salary bands

• Watch burn rate climb while delivery slows

Neither option is smart.

The current H 1B environment is not just more paperwork. It is a risk multiplier layered on top of normal hiring risk:

• Regulatory risk

• Financial risk

• Operational risk

Your roadmap does not care about immigration policy.

So the real question becomes simple:

How do you add world class talent fast without tying your growth to decisions you do not control?

That is where strategy first nearshore teams, and Puzzle’s model in particular, become a real risk reversal.

The New H 1B Math. High Cost. High Uncertainty.

As of late 2025:

• New H 1B applications filed between September 21, 2025 and September 21, 2026 carry a one time $100,000 fee

• Enhanced vetting now includes social media reviews and additional screening

• Consular appointment backlogs are creating long and unpredictable delays

• Many employers are advising visa holders to avoid international travel

In practice, that means:

• You pay six figures per engineer before they write a single line of code

• You do not control when they can actually start working in the U.S.

• Your hiring timeline is exposed to political volatility

Layer this on top of the usual hiring questions:

• Will they ship

• Will they integrate

• Will they stay

At that point, this stops being a strategy and starts being a gamble.

Why Nearshore Teams Are a Smart Hedge, Not a Compromise

You still need the same outcomes:

• Senior engineers who can ship

• Real time collaboration with U.S. product and design

• People who feel like part of your company

Nearshore teams in Latin America give you that without:

• Immigration risk

• Travel bans and consular bottlenecks

• A $100k tax per hire

And they give you with:

• Time zone alignment during core U.S. hours

• Natural collaboration and communication

• Engineers embedded in Slack, rituals, and codebases

The difference is not nearshore itself.
The difference is whether it is done strategy first.

How Puzzle Turns Talent Strategy Into Risk Reversal

Puzzle is built around a simple idea:

Founders should not carry all the hiring risk alone.

Instead of asking you to absorb cost, delay, and uncertainty, we shift that risk onto us.

1. We design the team before we hire anyone

We start by understanding:

• Your roadmap and milestones for the next 6 to 18 months

• Where execution is breaking down today

• Which roles must stay close to product and customers

• Which responsibilities can live nearshore without sacrificing control

You are not buying random headcount.
You are buying a team designed around outcomes.

2. We staff with vetted Latin American talent in your time zones

Once the structure is clear, we:

• Source across Latin America

• Vet engineers for your stack and seniority

• Assess English, communication, and ownership mindset

• Embed them directly into your systems

  
  

The result:

• Global grade talent

Roughly 30 percent lower payroll compared to U.S. equivalents

That difference compounds into:

• More engineers for the same budget

• More runway without slowing delivery

• Flexibility to keep critical roles local

3. We stack risk reversal on top of that

This is where the model changes the equation.

Instead of paying upfront and hoping it works, we give you proof first.

• A 90 day pilot to validate performance in your environment

• Pay only for keepers. If someone does not deliver, we replace them

Compared to paying $100k per visa with no guarantee of entry, the risk profile is not close.

H 1B vs Strategy First Nearshore. Where the Risk Sits

H 1B hiring from abroad

• Large upfront sunk costs

• Long and unpredictable timelines

• Heavy legal and operational overhead

• Regulatory risk fully on you

• If the hire fails, you absorb the loss

Puzzle’s nearshore model

• Minimal upfront cost

• Weeks to a functioning team

• Lower operational load. We handle HR, payroll, compliance, equipment, and infrastructure

• No U.S. immigration exposure

• If a hire does not work, we fix it. You only pay for contributors

That is what a real hedge looks like.

How Founders Actually Use This

In practice, founders and CTOs use Puzzle to:

• Map where execution risk is highest

• Identify roles blocked by immigration timelines

• Build nearshore pods with clear ownership

• Run a 90 day pilot with a small, high leverage team

• Scale only after it works

The result is a repeatable nearshore lane that reduces dependency on visas and high cost local hiring.

When This Becomes the Obvious Move

You should be looking at this now if:

• The $100k H 1B fee does not scale for your roadmap

• Hiring delays are pushing launches and milestones

• Your team is already distributed

• You want a hedge against the next wave of immigration changes

You can still play the visa game.
It is just a harder game than it used to be.

H 1B once unlocked global talent. In 2025, it also imported massive risk.

Nearshore, done right, flips that equation.

• World class talent

• Less downside

• Faster execution

If you want to see what a strategy first nearshore team would look like for your roadmap and budget:

Let’s design it together.