Trump Administration Proposes New H-1B Visa Fee

After a federal court struck down the Trump administration’s effort to levy a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, the Department of Homeland Security is trying a different approach to impose a similar fee. 

Under a proposal released Monday, new H-1B visa petitions will have to pay $103,265 in addition to the other required fees. DHS expects the new fee to generate about $3 billion, which will be used to offset costs related to administering the lawful immigration system. The plan is open for public comment for 30 days.

Only H-1B petitions that are subject to an annual cap have to pay the additional fee. But universities, along with nonprofit research institutions and national labs, are exempt from that cap. (The administration’s previous $100,000 fee would have applied to universities.)

However, the fee could affect international students planning to stay in the country after graduation, and several advocates said Monday that the proposal could limit opportunities for this group.

“International students do not choose where to study based on the classroom experience alone,” said Zuzana Wootson, deputy director of federal policy at the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, in a statement. “They also consider whether they will have a meaningful opportunity to apply their education after graduation. The proposed rule would severely weaken the education-to-workforce pipeline and make the United States a far less attractive destination for the world’s most talented students.”

To qualify for an H-1B visa, a worker must be employed in a “specialty occupation,” meaning it requires “highly specialized knowledge,” and have at least a bachelor’s degree that’s related to their specialty, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The professional, scientific and technical services sector, which includes computer services and engineering, had the most H-1B petitions in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2026 at 91,629, according to federal data.

“DHS acknowledges that the scope of the proposed fee increase in this rule is significant,” the agency wrote in the proposal. “Petitioners for H-1B cap-subject nonimmigrant workers generally are required to have the resources necessary to pay the worker(s) for whom the petition is filed, and DHS does not believe the proposed fee that the employer must pay USCIS is significant compared to the petitioner’s wage obligation.”