Fee for Certain H-1B Petitions
Key claim: DHS proposes requiring employers to pay a new $103,265 fee, on top of all existing fees, when filing any H-1B petition that counts against the annual cap, including advanced-degree exemption cases, to help recoup federal immigration-system costs.
Abstract
(Proposed Rule · Homeland Security Department) The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposes to establish a $103,265 fee, payable at the time of filing, for all H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption, which would be imposed in addition to all other applicable fees or payments. This fee would serve as a dedicated revenue mechanism to help recover a portion of the federal government’s costs of administering the lawful immigration system, including activities carried out by DHS, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Department of State (DOS), and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
Why this matters
A six-figure per-petition fee would represent an order-of-magnitude increase in the cost of using the primary skilled-worker visa, likely shifting which employers can afford to sponsor H-1B workers and which roles get filed. Because the fee applies to all cap-subject petitions—including the advanced-degree exemption—it would fall broadly on universities, health systems, and technology firms that rely on new-hire H-1Bs, and could reshape demand in the annual lottery.