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Why Is the Trump Administration Raising the Price of H-1B Petitions Again?
It is trying to keep a six-figure screen on specialty-occupation hiring after the first $100,000 charge cut certain filings from abroad by 87 percent. H-1B fees are now back on the table in two layers: a September 2025 presidential proclamation payment, now blocked in court and on appeal, and a new Department of Homeland Security proposal of $103,265 on every cap-subject petition. If both apply to the same worker from abroad, the combined bill would exceed $200,000.
What the $100,000 Proclamation Did, According to USCIS
President Donald Trump signed the “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers” proclamation on September 19, 2025. It required a $100,000 payment with specified new petitions filed after September 21, 2025, for beneficiaries outside the United States. USCIS later reported that 85 employers paid the charge in the first months, generating $8.5 million. Petitions requesting consular notification for workers abroad fell about 87 percent compared with the same window a year earlier, and ordinary filing revenue in that slice fell by about $28 million.
That collapse is the policy result, not an accident. A six-figure price is meant to separate routine staffing requests from positions an employer will fund because the worker is truly scarce. If a firm needs a one-in-a-million specialist, it will not treat $100,000 as a reason to walk away. If the role is interchangeable, the price is supposed to send the work to the domestic labor market instead. USCIS has framed the original charge as American workers first. A federal judge in Massachusetts vacated the proclamation payment in June 2026. The Justice Department appealed.
The New $103,265 DHS Proposal
On August 24, 2026, DHS proposed adding $103,265, payable at filing, on all H-1B cap-subject petitions, including the 20,000 advanced-degree exemption slots. The annual statutory cap remains 65,000 plus those 20,000. Certain universities and research organizations would not pay the new amount. Public comments close September 24, 2026. USCIS said H-1B fees in this second design are intended to recover interagency costs of administering the lawful immigration system. The department projects about $8.8 billion a year if 85,000 cap-subject petitions are filed.
Combined Cost and Strategic Implication
H-1B fees stacked together would produce a $203,265 bill for some employers hiring from abroad if the proclamation payment is restored. That is the figure that puts the program over $200,000. The strategic implication is a tighter filter: keep the lottery slots, raise the cash price, and let only employers who treat the hire as indispensable clear the gate. H-1B fees at that level are a wage-and-scarcity test written as a check. The 87 percent drop is the live experiment. H-1B fees that large will shrink volume so the remaining cases are the outstanding ones, not the default staffing channel.
Read more: https://morsereport.com/a/news/h-1b-60-day-grace-period-to-end-under-trump-administration
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FAQs
Why Is the Trump Administration Raising the Price of H-1B Petitions Again?
It is trying to keep a six-figure screen on specialty-occupation hiring after the first $100,000 charge cut certain filings from abroad by 87 percent. H-1B fees are now back on the table in two layers: a September 2025 presidential proclamation payment, now blocked in court and on appeal, and a new Department of Homeland Security proposal of $103,265 on every cap-subject petition. If both apply to the same worker from abroad, the combined bill would exceed $200,000.
