Trump Administration Moves to Lock In $103,265 H-1B Fee After $100,000 Ruling

Q: If a $103,265 visa petition is denied, do companies lose their massive investment completely?

Not necessarily—but under the proposal as written, companies may well be at risk of losing it. The key issue is that the proposed $103,265 charge appears to be a filing-time fee tied to an H-1B cap-subject petition, and the proposal does not say it would be refunded if USCIS denies the petition. In the immigration system, filing fees are usually paid up front and are generally nonrefundable once the government accepts the case for processing, even if the petition is later denied. That is how most USCIS petition fees work now. What is still unclear is whether DHS might create a refund rule in the final version, or distinguish between a petition that is denied on the merits and one that is rejected before adjudication because it was improperly filed. The public notice specifically leaves that question unanswered, which is one of the biggest practical concerns for employers. There is also an important timing point: companies do not have to pay this new fee now. It is only a proposed rule, with a 30-day comment period and likely months of further process, plus expected legal challenges. The earlier $100,000 payment attempt was blocked in court and is not currently enforceable. So if this new rule were finalized without a refund provision, an employer whose petition is denied could indeed lose the full $103,265, on top of ordinary H-1B filing costs. But for now, that outcome remains hypothetical because the proposal is not yet in effect.

3 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · Aug 24

$103,265 per application would become the new H-1B fee under a DHS rule published in the Federal Register, opening a 30-day public comment period before the charge can be finalized.
The proposal would replace Trump's temporary $100,000 fee, which expires in September, after a federal judge in June barred the administration from collecting it as unlawful.
H-1B visas typically carried about $2,000 to $5,000 in fees, and court filings say the sharp increase has already chilled demand; by February 15, just 85 payments had come from 70 employers.
The program issues 65,000 visas a year plus 20,000 for advanced-degree workers, and employers registered for about 344,000 last year—down more than 25% from 2024 and less than half the 794,000 sought in 2023.
Business groups, Democratic-led states, unions and employers are already challenging the fee, while the administration argues the charge fits Trump's authority to restrict entry and could help fund the immigration system.

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Al Jazeera English5h ago

Trump Administration Proposes Formalizing $103,265 H-1B Visa Fee

The Wall Street Journal5h ago

Government Proposes New Six-Figure Fee for H1-B Visas - WSJ

The Washington Post5h ago

Trump Administration Proposes $103,265 H-1B Visa Fee After Legal Setback

13 Sources

Will a six-figure visa fee force tech giants to offshore jobs rather than hire foreign talent locally?

If a $103,265 visa petition is denied, do companies lose their massive investment completely?

DHS Proposes $103,265 H-1B Petition Fee: Legal, Economic, and Global Impacts of the 2026 Rulemaking

Overview

In August 2026, the Department of Homeland Security proposed a record $103,265 fee for every H-1B cap-subject petition, aiming to raise $8.78 billion by dividing this target among 85,000 petitions. This move follows the court’s rejection of a previous $100,000 fee, prompting DHS to use new legal strategies. The proposal triggered alarm among U.S. businesses, especially small companies and Indian professionals, and led to a compressed 30-day public comment period. As a result, employers are exploring alternative visa options, nearshoring, and remote hiring, while immigration policy volatility is now seen as a major business risk.

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