A $103,265 line item: DHS moves cap-subject H-1B hiring onto the headcount budget
The proposed per-petition fee runs 21 to 52 times what cap-subject petitions used to cost, and its exemptions steer hiring toward whoever is already in the US. Comment is the last stop before finalisation.
The Product Desk
What happened
- DHS has proposed charging employers $103,265 for each new H-1B visa, a filing Reuters reported on Monday.
- The charge would fall on petitions subject to the 85,000 annual cap and sit on top of existing filing fees.
- The notice publishes in the Federal Register on 25 August and must clear the regulatory process, with finalisation possible by year end.
- Proceeds would be divided among six agencies, with USCIS and the immigration courts taking the two largest shares.
Why it matters
- What it costs cost Sponsorship stops being a legal expense line and becomes headcount arithmetic: five cap-subject hires carry $516,325 in fees before anyone discusses salary, and it lands on the hiring org.
- What it limits constraint With students already in the country and cap-exempt employers carved out, the cheapest compliant hire is whoever is already here, which prices out recruiting from abroad rather than banning it.
- What doesn't add up contradiction The six-agency budget split only reaches its total if every cap slot pays, while the rule exempts a population the proposal itself calls a large share of new recipients.
- What it sets up precedent Once roughly $5.96bn of planned agency funding depends on one visa fee, reversing the charge later means finding that money somewhere else, which makes the fee harder to unwind than to impose.
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DHS proposes charging universities $70,000 for each foreign student entering OPTConfirmed6 publishers
A cap-subject petition used to cost between $2,000 and $5,000 in fees [5]. The proposed charge is roughly 21 to 52 times that [21], it is per petition, and it sits on top of the fees employers already pay [4]. Five cap-subject hires in one cycle come to $516,325 [22]. That is a sum approved by whoever approves headcount, which is what actually changes behaviour: the cost leaves immigration counsel's budget and enters the same conversation as two more engineers.
The exemptions shape hiring more than the price does. Cap-exempt petitions, largely university and nonprofit or government research posts, are untouched [7]. So are renewals, and so is anyone already in the United States on a student visa, a group the proposal itself calls a large share of new H-1B recipients [8]. The cheapest lawful hire is therefore someone already studying in the country, or a role at an institution that never entered the lottery. Sponsoring a candidate who is abroad becomes the expensive path.
That is also where the revenue case wobbles. DHS splits the proceeds across six agencies, with US Citizenship and Immigration Services taking about $3bn and the immigration courts about $2.96bn [12]; the six allocations sum to roughly $8.78bn [24], which is what 85,000 petitions at the full fee would yield [23]. It yields that only if every cap slot pays. The carve-out for student-visa holders already in the country [8] takes a share of the base out of the calculation, and the notice does not say how much.
The earlier version of this fee is the reason the comment period matters more than the courtroom does right now. Trump imposed a $100,000 charge by order last year, invoking his authority to restrict the entry of foreign nationals [9]; a federal judge ruled it unlawful in June and stopped collection, and a Boston appeals court is reviewing that decision [10]. About 70 employers had paid across 85 applications by late February [14], roughly $8.5m [25], or about a tenth of one percent of what the new rule projects [26]. Collections were never the mechanism. DHS says the new fee rests on different legal authority [11]; the US Chamber of Commerce, Democratic-led states and a coalition of unions and employers argue the department cannot impose fees to raise revenue without Congress [16] [17]; the administration answers that the fee is not a traditional tax and that courts have little room to question presidential authority over entry [18]. None of that resolves before the rule can be finalised, which Reuters reports could happen by the end of the year [6]. The stretch between the 25 August Federal Register notice [6] and that finalisation is the only place an employer gets to put its own numbers on the record.
They would be arguing into a market that is already contracting. Registrations ran about 344,000 last year, down more than a quarter from 2024 and under half the 794,000 of 2023 [15], which is still roughly four registrations per available slot [27]. The fee is also not arriving on its own. DHS added charges of up to $4,500 to extension applications and to moving an employee in from abroad earlier this month [2], and has proposed weighting the lottery toward higher-paid workers while scrapping the grace period that lets laid-off H-1B holders look for work [3].
What to watch
- Whether the Boston appeals court rules on the June decision before DHS finalises the new rule, and on what reasoning.
- Whether DHS publishes an estimate of how many cap petitions it expects to actually pay the fee after exemptions.
- Whether spring registration volumes fall again from last year's 344,000 once employers can price the proposal.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence60
- Adoption10
- Hype gap+40
- Incentives55
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
The US Department of Homeland Security proposed a rule on Monday that would charge employers $103,265 for a new H-1B visa; Daniel Wiessner reported the filing for Reuters.
- [2]
Earlier this month DHS added fees of up to $4,500 to applications to extend an H-1B worker's stay or to move an employee into the United States from abroad, in a separate rule covering the 9/11 response and biometric entry-exit fee.
- [3]
The administration has ordered enhanced vetting of H-1B applicants, proposed replacing the lottery with a weighted system favouring higher-paid and higher-skilled workers, and proposed scrapping the grace period that lets laid-off H-1B workers stay while they look for another job.
- [4]
The fee would apply to petitions subject to the annual cap of 85,000 visas, including the 20,000 reserved for holders of a US master's degree or higher, and employers would pay it on top of existing filing fees.
- [5]
Those visas used to cost between $2,000 and $5,000.
- [6]
The Federal Register publishes the notice on 25 August, the rule must then clear the federal regulatory process, and Reuters reported the administration could finalise it by the end of the year.
- [7]
The rule spares cap-exempt petitions, including many posts at universities and at nonprofit or government research institutions.
- [8]
The rule would also spare foreign citizens already in the United States on student visas, who make up a large share of new H-1B recipients, and renewals of current visas escape the charge as well.
- [9]
Trump first imposed a $100,000 fee by order last year, invoking the president's power under immigration law to restrict the entry of foreign nationals who would be detrimental to US interests.
- [10]
A federal judge ruled that fee unlawful in June and stopped the government collecting it; a Boston appeals court is reviewing that decision and a separate court weighs a challenge from a major business group.
- [11]
DHS says the new fee rests on different legal authority.
- [12]
The proposal splits revenue across six agencies: USCIS about $3bn, the Executive Office for Immigration Review about $2.96bn, ICE roughly $1.05bn, the Labor Department about $1.21bn, the State Department about $484m and Customs and Border Protection around $76m. Billal Rahman listed the split for Newsweek.
- [13]
The source states the allocations add up to about $8.78bn, and that the annual cap of 85,000 visas charged at $103,265 each comes to about the same figure.
- [14]
About 70 employers had paid the $100,000 fee, across 85 visa applications, as of late February, according to court filings cited by Reuters.
- [15]
Employers registered for about 344,000 H-1B visas last year on USCIS figures, down more than 25% from 2024 and fewer than half the 794,000 registrations sought in 2023.
- [16]
The US Chamber of Commerce is challenging the fee alongside Democratic-led states and a coalition of unions and employers, and the plaintiffs could amend those suits to cover the new rule once it is final.
- [17]
Challengers argue that Trump's power to restrict entry does not let him override the law that created the H-1B programme, and that DHS cannot impose fees or taxes to raise revenue without permission from Congress.
- [18]
The administration says the fee is not a traditional tax and that courts have little power to question presidential authority over entry into the country.
- [19]
The H-1B programme offers 65,000 visas a year plus another 20,000 for workers with advanced degrees, approved for three to six years.
- [20]
Trump's original order expires in September unless extended, a year after he signed it.
- [21]
At $103,265, the proposed fee is about 21 to 52 times the $2,000 to $5,000 these petitions used to cost.
- [22]
Five cap-subject petitions at the proposed fee come to $516,325.
- [23]
All 85,000 cap slots charged at $103,265 would produce $8,777,525,000.
- [24]
The six agency allocations sum to about $8.78bn.
- [25]
Eighty-five applications charged at $100,000 amount to about $8.5m collected under the earlier fee.
- [26]
The roughly $8.5m collected under the earlier fee is about 0.1% of the $8.78bn the new rule's allocations assume.
- [27]
About 344,000 registrations against 85,000 cap slots is roughly four registrations per available slot.
- [28]
USCIS and the immigration courts together account for about $5.96bn of the split, roughly 68% of the total.
Sources
2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- restofworld.orgAmerica’s immigration policy is driving away future AI leaders
1 article · August 25, 2026
- thenextweb.comTrump wants a $103,265 fee on new H-1B visas
1 article · August 24, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- AI Talent Competition
- H-1B visa program
- US skilled immigration policy
Entities
- US Citizenship and Immigration Services
- Moonshot AI
- US Department of Homeland Security
- Donald Trump
- US Chamber of Commerce
- Optional Practical Training
- Executive Office for Immigration Review