USCIS confirms $100K H-1B visa fee for new petitions from Sept 21

All new H-1B visa petitions submitted after September 21, including those for the FY2026 lottery, will require payment of the $100,000 fee, as announced by President Donald Trump in a recent proclamation, the US government has said.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in a 'H-1B FAQ' document, released on Sunday, said that the September 19 proclamation took an important, initial, and incremental step to reform the H-1B visa programme to curb abuses and protect American workers.

The proclamation "requires a $100,000 payment to accompany any new H-1B visa petitions submitted after 12:01 am eastern daylight time on September 21, 2025," the FAQ document said.

This includes applications for the 2026 lottery and any other new H-1B filings beyond that date, it added.

USCIS had earlier said in a statement on Saturday that the fee would apply only to new, prospective petitions that had not yet been filed, but had not specified the exact date and time when the rule would take effect.

A White House official had told PTI that the $100,000 fee will "first apply in the next upcoming lottery cycle.

The $100,000 fee is a one-time fee on submission of a new H-1B petition.

USCIS further clarified that the fee does not apply to any petitions filed before the 12:01 am deadline on Sept 21, previously issued H-1B visas, renewal petitions, and H-1B holders re-entering the US.

The proclamation also authorises the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of State (DOS) to coordinate implementation steps, the FAQ document said.

Further planned reforms under the proclamation include, a proposed rulemaking by the Department of Labour to revise and raise the prevailing wage levels in order to upskill the H-1B programme and ensure that it is used to hire only the best of the best temporary foreign workers.

The planned reforms also include a DHS rulemaking to prioritise high-skilled, high-paid workers in the H-1B lottery system.

The Department of State has issued guidance to all consular posts consistent with USCIS and US Customs and Border Protection policies.

A day after Trump signed the proclamation on Friday, officials had clarified that the $100,000 fee requirement for H1B visas does not apply to current visa holders and is a one-time payment applicable only to new petitions, bringing significant relief to thousands of panic-stricken professionals, including from India, concerned over being impacted by the new rule. 

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, commenting on the fee, had said that renewals, first times, the company needs to decide. Is that person valuable enough to have $100,000 a year payment to the government, or they should head home and they should go hire an American?  The initial registration period for the FY2027 H-1B cap is expected to begin around March next year.