The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and USCIS officially published a proposed rule to impose a new $103,265 filing fee on all cap-subject H-1B visa petitions.
The massive $103,265 fee applies to all H-1B petitions subject to the annual 85,000-visa cap, including the 20,000 slots reserved for U.S. advanced degree holders (the master’s cap). It applies to both change-of-status petitions (for workers already in the U.S.) and consular notification petitions.
The employer must pay the fee at the time of filing and is in addition to all existing standard H-1B filing fees.
Any cap-exempt petition—such as H-1B extensions, amendments, or filings by cap-exempt employers like universities and nonprofit research institutions—is not subject to this fee.
DHS indicates the fee acts as a revenue mechanism to generate an estimated $8.8 billion annually to fund and oversee the lawful U.S. immigration system across several federal agencies, including fraud detection, adjudication, and national security vetting.
An advance copy was recently publicized, with formal publication in the Federal Register released on August 25, 2026. This triggers a 30-day public comment period. The rule will not take effect until DHS reviews public feedback and finalizes a regulatory mandate.
This regulatory push follows significant legal setbacks for the Trump administration. A previous attempt to levy a $100,000 fee via an executive presidential proclamation was struck down by a Boston federal court as an unauthorized tax, a decision the First Circuit Court of Appeals refused to pause. By executing this through formal DHS administrative rulemaking under separate statutory authority, the administration is trying to anchor the fee permanently.
Notably, DHS stated that if the original presidential proclamation survives its ongoing separate legal appeals, employers could potentially be forced to pay both the proclamation fee and this new regulatory fee.
If finalized without court intervention, the fee would have a significant impact on the next H-1B cap lottery season, which begins in spring 2027. It is expected that lawsuits seeking to block the rule will be filed once the rule is finalized.
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