Archive · 25 Aug 2026
Proposed H-1B Fee Could Raise $8.8 Billion Annually
The U.S. government wants to charge employers a very large fee when they apply for certain H-1B workers.
The proposed fee would be $103,265 for each petition covered by the annual H-1B cap.
It would not apply to every H-1B petition, and some research and education organizations would be exempt.
The government estimates that employers would file about 85,000 covered petitions each year.
If that happened, the fee could raise about $8.8 billion annually.
The money would help pay for immigration courts, application processing, border and enforcement work, and other programs.
The proposal is different from an earlier $100,000 H-1B payment that faced a court challenge.
Employers do not need to pay the new fee unless DHS finishes the rulemaking process and adopts it.
DHS has proposed a $103,265 fee for each cap-subject H-1B petition.
The fee would apply to annual-cap petitions, including those eligible for the U.S. master’s degree exemption.
DHS estimates the fee would reduce annual filings to 85,000 and generate $8.777 billion.
The proposed revenue would fund immigration-related work across several federal agencies.
The proposal is not final, and employers do not have to pay the fee currently.
- Who
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, employers filing cap-subject H-1B petitions, and federal immigration agencies are central to the proposal.
- What
- DHS proposed a $103,265 fee for each cap-subject H-1B petition and estimated annual revenue of $8.777 billion.
- When
- DHS announced the plan on August 24 and published the proposed rule on August 25; public comments are due 30 days after publication.
- Where
- The proposal applies to cap-subject H-1B petitions filed for work in the United States.
- Why
- DHS says the fee would recover federal immigration-system costs and fund work across multiple agencies.
- Proposed fee
- $103,265 per cap-subject H-1B petition
- Estimated annual filings
- 85,000 petitions
- Estimated annual revenue
- $8.777 billion, or about $8.8 billion
- Recent filing average
- 96,750 cap-subject receipts annually from fiscal years 2021 through 2025
- Statutory H-1B allocation
- 85,000 positions: 65,000 under the regular cap and 20,000 under the U.S. advanced-degree exemption
- Largest proposed allocation
- About $3 billion for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
- Current status
- The measure is a proposed rule, not a fee currently payable by employers