Trump administration proposes $103,265 H-1B fee after court struck down $100,000 levy

Tech and finance employers face new six-figure cost per H-1B applicant

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security proposed attaching a $103,265 fee to new H-1B visa filings on Monday, with payments required before the government decides whether to approve each application. The fee would apply to most new applicants, including those already in the United States, and would replace a $100,000 levy that a federal appeals court struck down earlier this year.

The public has 30 days to comment on the proposal before it can take effect, DHS said.

The H-1B visa serves as the primary pathway for high-skill foreign professionals to work in the U.S. The number of new visas issued each year is capped at 85,000, though hospitals, universities and other nonprofit institutions are exempted from the cap.

The new rule would supersede the $100,000 levy the Trump administration announced last year, which was set to last one year. A federal appeals court in Boston ruled that the earlier fee exceeded executive authority and was issued following an improper process; the older attempt was structured as a travel ban signed by President Trump, while the new fee follows an established federal process.

If finalized, the proposed fee would create a significant new cost for the technology and finance sectors, which rely on the H-1B to hire top international graduates from U.S. universities. Companies that typically pay visa fees were largely exempt from the previous charge because it was structured as a condition for entering the U.S.; most new hires are already in the country on student visas.

The earlier $100,000 fee would have primarily affected information-technology companies that recruit workers from India, along with hospitals and universities that recruit doctors and researchers from abroad but could not afford a six-figure fee for each new hire. Hospitals, particularly those in rural areas that struggle to attract domestic talent, lobbied the Trump administration for an exemption.

DHS projects the new fee would generate roughly $8.8 billion in revenue to fund the immigration system. The filing says the H-1B fee would cover broader costs than typical USCIS fees, including helping immigration courts that decide deportation cases. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers visas, typically sets fees to cover the cost of adjudicating applications.

The H-1B is disproportionately used to hire skilled tech workers from India. Supporters of President Trump have alleged that employers use the visa to hire foreigners at lower salaries than similarly qualified Americans could expect to earn.

The proposed fee is not the only visa-cost change U.S. employers are watching. The administration is also considering attaching a $100,000 fee to Optional Practical Training, or OPT, the program that allows international students to work for a time on their student visas. That policy is pending final review at the White House, according to a public federal tracker.

Most Silicon Valley and Wall Street firms first hire students using OPT before applying to sponsor them for H-1B or other specialty visas. Businesses have argued that attaching a large fee to that program would mean far fewer international graduates remain in the U.S. long term.