DHS proposes $103,265 H-1B fee

The Trump administration, through the United States — United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has proposed an additional fee of $103,265 on every cap-subject H-1B petition. The fee would apply to petitions filed under the regular annual quota of 65,000 and the advanced-degree exemption of 20,000, and would be paid by employers in addition to all existing filing fees. DHS estimates the fee could generate approximately $8.8 billion annually based on a projected 85,000 cap-subject petitions per year. The proposal is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register, triggering a 30-day public comment period. The revenue would fund immigration benefit adjudication, fraud detection, national security screening, system modernization, immigration courts, consular processing, labor standards enforcement, and interagency coordination. The fee would not apply to cap-exempt petitions filed by certain non-profit research organizations, government research bodies, and institutions of higher education. DHS analysis indicates that 14,541 of 28,649 organizations filing cap-subject petitions in fiscal 2025 were small entities, and the rule could significantly impact 11,051 small organizations (76% of small entities analyzed). FWD.us President Todd Schulte criticized the proposal as a 'massive tax on American businesses' and questioned its legality, arguing it exceeds the direct cost of processing a petition. DHS maintains that federal immigration law permits fees sufficient to recover the full cost of immigration adjudication and naturalization services. The proposal follows an earlier $100,000 H-1B fee that was blocked by a federal judge, with legal challenges pending. The fee could significantly affect employers relying on H-1B workers, particularly in technology, engineering, finance, medicine, and research, and is especially significant for Indian professionals, who constitute the largest share of H-1B beneficiaries.