Trump Administration Proposes $103,265 H-1B Visa Fee

The Trump administration is proposing a new $103,265 fee for each H-1B petition subject to the program’s annual numerical cap, according to a Department of Homeland Security notice scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on August 25, 2026.

The proposal is not yet a final rule. It would have to go through a public-comment process and could be changed, delayed or withdrawn before taking effect. The proposed charge would be added to other required immigration fees and would generally be paid by the employer filing the petition.

The measure is drawing attention because the fee would be far larger than the ordinary government charges associated with an H-1B petition. It also follows a separate Trump administration policy announced in September 2025 that required a $100,000 payment for certain new H-1B petitions involving workers outside the United States. The legal status and timing of that separate payment have been affected by litigation and are distinct from the new proposed fee.

What the new proposal would do

The DHS notice of proposed rulemaking would create a standalone fee of $103,265 for H-1B cap-subject petitions. “Cap-subject” means petitions counted against the annual statutory limit, including the regular allocation of 65,000 visas and an additional 20,000 places for certain workers with qualifying U.S. master’s or higher degrees.

The fee would be due when the petition is filed and would be paid in addition to other applicable charges. The proposal says it would apply to petitions eligible for the advanced-degree exemption, commonly called the master’s cap.

The proposal would not apply to all H-1B filings. In particular, it would exclude cap-exempt petitions, including many petitions filed for workers employed by institutions of higher education, nonprofit research organizations and government research organizations. Other categories that are not subject to the annual cap also would not be covered by this specific proposal.

Why DHS says it wants the fee

DHS says the fee is intended primarily to generate revenue to help recover federal costs connected to the lawful immigration system. The agency’s proposal identifies expenses involving several departments and components, including U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, the State Department and the Labor Department.

The listed activities include immigration adjudications, fraud detection, national-security vetting, information-technology modernization, records management, consular processing, immigration-court operations, border inspections and labor-related functions.

DHS estimates that the proposed fee would generate approximately $8.8 billion annually, based on an assumed volume of 85,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions. That figure corresponds to the statutory annual allocation, not a guarantee that all petitions would ultimately be approved.

The agency’s proposed allocation would direct about $3 billion to USCIS, nearly $3 billion to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, about $1.21 billion to the Labor Department, $1.05 billion to ICE, $484 million to the State Department and roughly $76 million to Customs and Border Protection.

DHS also argues that a very high filing cost could discourage employers from using the program unless they have a strong need for a worker with specialized skills. That is an agency rationale, not a confirmed outcome. The proposal does not establish that the fee would improve wages, reduce misuse or preserve jobs, and those effects would be subject to debate during the rulemaking process.

How this differs from the $100,000 H-1B payment

The proposed $103,265 charge is separate from the $100,000 payment included in President Donald Trump’s September 19, 2025 proclamation restricting the entry of certain H-1B workers.

That earlier measure applied to certain new H-1B petitions filed after September 21, 2025, particularly petitions for workers who were outside the United States. The White House described it as a one-time payment connected to new petitions and said exceptions could be granted when the government determined that hiring was in the national interest.

The two measures rely on different legal authorities. DHS says the new $103,265 charge is a regulatory fee intended to recover immigration-system costs. The earlier $100,000 requirement was imposed through a presidential proclamation restricting entry.

A federal district court in Massachusetts vacated agency guidance implementing the $100,000 payment on June 8, 2026. The government filed an appeal on June 11, 2026, and the DHS proposal says that appeal remained pending when the proposed rule was prepared. The proclamation itself was scheduled to expire, absent an extension, 12 months after its September 21, 2025 effective date.

Because of that litigation and expiration language, employers and workers should not assume that the earlier $100,000 payment and the new proposal operate in the same way. The proposed rule says that, if a petitioner were subject to both obligations at the same time, the payments could be cumulative. That question would depend on the status of the proclamation, court orders and implementing guidance when the new fee might take effect.

Who could be affected

Employers

The direct financial impact would fall on employers filing covered petitions. A six-figure charge could be especially significant for startups, small businesses, hospitals and other organizations that cannot spread the cost across large numbers of hires.

Large technology companies and other employers that regularly participate in the H-1B lottery could also face substantial costs. The proposal, however, does not set a different amount based on company size, industry or the worker’s salary.

The proposal does not say that employers must pass the cost to workers, and immigration law places important restrictions on shifting certain H-1B-related costs to employees. Workers should be cautious about demands to personally pay government filing charges and should seek advice from a qualified immigration attorney before agreeing to any repayment arrangement.

Foreign workers and international students

H-1B visas are commonly used for jobs requiring specialized knowledge, including many positions in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine, finance and other professional fields. International students who graduate from U.S. universities can be among those seeking H-1B sponsorship after temporary practical-training authorization.

A major employer cost could reduce the number of petitions some companies are willing to file. That possibility is widely discussed, but the proposal does not establish how many employers would stop sponsoring workers or how many workers would be affected.

For workers already in H-1B status, the proposed fee would not automatically cancel an existing status or employment authorization. The notice is aimed at covered petitions filed under the annual cap. The treatment of extensions, amendments, transfers and other filings depends on whether a petition is cap-subject under the final rules and the applicable USCIS instructions.

Universities and research organizations

Many higher-education and research employers use cap-exempt H-1B petitions. Those filings would not be subject to the proposed $103,265 charge under the notice. That exemption could matter for universities, affiliated research institutions and certain nonprofit organizations, although individual cases can depend on the employer’s structure and the job involved.

What is confirmed and what is not

• Confirmed: DHS has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking for a $103,265 additional fee.
• Confirmed: The proposal targets H-1B petitions subject to the annual cap, including the advanced-degree exemption.
• Confirmed: The fee would be in addition to other applicable fees or payments.
• Confirmed: Cap-exempt H-1B petitions would not be covered by this specific fee proposal.
• Not confirmed: The fee is not yet final and is not automatically payable under the proposal as of August 25, 2026.
• Not confirmed: The proposal does not establish how the fee would affect hiring, wages, outsourcing or the number of H-1B petitions.
• Uncertain: The interaction between this proposal and the separate $100,000 payment depends on litigation, the expiration or extension of the proclamation and future agency guidance.

What happens next

DHS is opening a public-comment period for the proposed rule. The notice says comments must be submitted through the federal rulemaking portal and reference DHS docket number USCIS-2026-0298. The deadline is expected to be 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

After reviewing comments, DHS could issue a final rule, revise the proposal, extend the process or abandon the measure. A final rule would need to specify its effective date, filing procedures, covered petitions and any transition provisions.

Employers preparing for upcoming H-1B filings should continue to rely on current USCIS instructions and official fee schedules rather than treating the proposed amount as a current requirement. Workers with pending or potential sponsorship cases should ask their employers and immigration counsel how any future rule could affect their particular petition.

The central point is straightforward: the administration has proposed a potentially very large new cost for cap-subject H-1B petitions, but as of August 25, 2026, it remains a proposal rather than a final fee.