Who Does the New $103,265 H-1B Visa Fee Affect?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed on Monday, August 24, a fee of $103,265 for employers who sponsor foreign workers through the H-1B visa. The measure would directly affect technology companies, hospitals, and engineering firms that depend on this immigration program.

What is the H-1B visa and how does it work?

The H-1B is a permit that authorizes U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialized professions. These include engineering, medicine, science, and software development.

Congress created this program in 1990. Currently, the government grants approximately 85,000 H-1B visas per year through an annual lottery, according to figures cited by media outlets such as CNN and Newsweek.

Each visa has an initial validity of three years, which can be extended to six. Some recognized executives, such as Elon Musk and Sundar Pichai, had this visa at some point in their careers.

Who would pay the new fee?

The proposal from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would apply to all H-1B petitions subject to the annual cap. This includes the 20,000 visas reserved for individuals with master’s degrees or higher academic qualifications.

The amount would be added to existing application fees. That is, an employer would have to pay the $103,265 in addition to current processing costs.

Exempt would be institutions of higher education, their affiliated nonprofit organizations, and government or nonprofit research centers. These employers would not pay the new fee under the current proposal.

Why is the government proposing this fee?

DHS calculated the amount by dividing the estimated total cost of administering the legal immigration system by the 85,000 anticipated annual petitions. The result was $103,264.57, rounded to $103,265.

«The proposed fee seeks to recover the costs that the federal government faces in processing and verifying legal immigration programs,» said USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler. The agency estimates that the measure would generate $8.8 billion annually.

That money would be distributed among USCIS, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Funds would also go to federal immigration courts, known as EOIR.

The precedent: the $100,000 fee that a judge blocked

In September 2025, the government issued a presidential proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas. The official justification was to combat what the administration called «systemic abuse» of the program.

In June 2026, a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked that order. The ruling favored a coalition of 20 states led by Democrats, which argued that the fee was an illegal tax without Congressional authorization.

That legal process continues on appeal. For this reason, the new $103,265 proposal uses a different mechanism: a formal DHS regulation instead of a presidential proclamation.

What do critics and supporters say?

Vice President JD Vance backed the measure in a message posted on X. «If an American corporation needs workers, it should hire and train Americans,» he wrote.

David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, questioned the economic justification for the fee. He noted that the previous $100,000 version reduced applications by nearly 90% and generated revenue losses for the government.

Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), warned that the proposal will face lawsuits as soon as it is finalized. He explained that courts will have to decide whether DHS has the legal authority to set a fee of this magnitude.