On October 21, 2025, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) released additional information regarding the $100,000 H-1B fee mandated by Presidential Proclamation dated September 19, 2025.
The easiest way to think of this fee is as a tariff on the importation of labor. Employers seeking to employ an H-1 worker who is abroad using an H-1B petition filed after September 21, 2025 must pay an additional $100,000 fee via the US Treasury’s website pay.gov.
The fee does not apply to H-1B petitions for employees who are present in the US and whose employers request to change their status to H-1B or extend their H-1B status. More importantly, USCIS clarified that the fee does not apply to an H-1B change of status or extension of status petition even if the H-1B worker subsequently departs the United States and seeks an H-1B visa from a US Embassy or Consulate abroad.
Practically speaking, this fee only applies to employers who use an H-1B visa petition to bring a foreign national to the United States. Current employers of H-1 workers who wish to continue to employ this worker need not worry about this fee, and can instead file an extension of status petition. Additionally, employers of F-1 students, H-4 Employment Authorization Card holders, or other nonimmigrants who wish to change their status to H-1B need not worry about the fee. These petitions are change of status petitions.
H-1B workers transferring from one employer to another may trigger the fee. Unemployed H-1B...
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