Administration proposes $103,265 fee for cap-subject H-1B petitions

The Trump administration has proposed a new $103,265 filing fee for each cap-subject H-1B petition, a dramatic increase that would push the government cost of many new H-1B cases far beyond current levels and could raise about $8.8 billion a year if finalized.

The proposal, released Monday by the Department of Homeland Security through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, would apply to H-1B petitions counted under the program’s annual 65,000 regular cap and its 20,000 advanced-degree exemption for applicants with qualifying U.S. master’s degrees or higher. It would not apply to cap-exempt H-1B petitions, including many filed by universities, affiliated nonprofit research organizations and government research organizations. The fee is not taking effect now: It is part of a proposed rule scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Tuesday, beginning a 30-day public comment period that runs to about Sept. 24.

If adopted, the new charge would be added on top of existing H-1B-related filing fees rather than replacing them. Those existing mandatory government costs for many H-1B cases are typically in the low thousands of dollars, depending on the employer and filing choices. The proposal would therefore move the government filing cost for a typical new cap-subject H-1B case into six figures.

H-1B is the main U.S. visa route for many skilled foreign workers in fields including technology, engineering, research, health care and higher education, though employers — not workers — file the petitions. DHS said it calculated the proposed amount by dividing an annual cost-recovery target of about $8.78 billion by 85,000 cap-subject petitions, producing $103,264.57 and rounding up.

The administration says the purpose is to shift immigration-system costs to H-1B petitioners instead of taxpayers. Zach Kahler, a DHS and USCIS spokesperson, said, “The proposed H‑1B fee is intended to recover the costs incurred across the federal government to adjudicate, vet, and support lawful immigration programs that otherwise must be funded by taxpayers.” Under the proposal, the money would be distributed not only to USCIS but also to other agencies involved in immigration administration, including the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, the Labor Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the State Department and Customs and Border Protection.

The move comes after the administration’s earlier attempt to impose a similar payment was blocked in court. In September 2025, Trump issued Presidential Proclamation 10973, requiring a $100,000 payment for certain H-1B petitions. But on June 8, a federal judge in Massachusetts vacated that policy. As quoted later by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, the district court declared “the Policy implementing the Proclamation . . . unlawful and . . . VACATED [it].”

The government then asked the 1st Circuit to keep the earlier policy in place while its appeal moved forward. On July 24, the appeals court denied that request. The appeal itself is still pending.

The new proposal uses a different legal route. Instead of relying on a presidential proclamation, DHS is invoking its fee-setting authority through the formal rulemaking process. That distinction is central to the administration’s latest effort to impose a very large charge on H-1B hiring after the earlier $100,000 requirement was struck down.

Legal and immigration analysts have already said the new rule is likely to face court challenges if DHS finalizes it, especially because the proposed petition fee would help fund immigration functions across several agencies, not just USCIS. For now, though, the change remains a proposal — one that would sharply raise the cost of filing cap-subject H-1B petitions if it survives the rulemaking process.