The proposed fee would be paid by employers, but foreign workers could ultimately bear the impact.
For an Indian engineer graduating from a US university — or a technology company looking to hire one — the path to an H-1B visa could soon carry a staggering new price tag of $103,265.
The Trump administration has proposed requiring US employers to pay $103,265 for each new H-1B petition subject to the annual visa cap, potentially reshaping the cost of one of the country’s key pathways for hiring highly skilled foreign workers.
The proposal could have a particularly significant impact on India. Indians accounted for around 70 per cent of H-1B workers in fiscal 2025, while India is also one of the largest sources of international students in the US.
However, the proposed fee has not yet taken effect. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published the regulation on August 24 and opened it for public comment for 30 days. Even if the administration moves ahead with the measure, it is likely to face legal challenges.
What is Trump proposing?
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed a new $103,265 fee for every H-1B petition subject to the annual visa cap, including petitions filed under the 20,000-visa advanced-degree exemption for US graduates. The fee would be in addition to existing H-1B filing fees and would be payable when the petition is filed.
The proposal would apply to both applicants seeking a change of status from within the US and those requiring consular processing. However, it would not cover H-1B petitions that are exempt from the annual cap, such as many petitions filed by universities and certain
Importantly, the $103,265 fee is only proposed and is not currently in effect. DHS is seeking public comments before deciding whether to issue a final rule.
The H-1B programme allows US employers to hire foreign professionals for specialised roles that typically require at least a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent qualification.
The US makes 85,000 cap-subject H-1B visas available each year, including 20,000 places reserved for applicants with a master’s degree or higher from a US institution.Importantly, the proposed fee would apply whether the worker is being recruited from abroad or is already in the United States. This means international graduates transitioning from student status to H-1B employment could also be affected.
You said: Vice-President JD Vance has publicly backed the proposal, arguing that if an American company needs workers, it should hire and train American workers.
Does the worker have to pay $103,265?Under the proposal, the $103,265 fee would be paid by the employer filing the H-1B petition, rather than directly by the foreign worker.
However, that does not mean prospective employees would be unaffected.
For example, if a company is choosing between two similarly qualified candidates, hiring the candidate who requires H-1B sponsorship could mean an additional six-figure government fee. That added cost could make some employers more reluctant to sponsor foreign workers, particularly for junior and mid-level roles.
The potential cost becomes even more significant for large recruiters. An employer filing H-1B petitions for 100 workers could face roughly $10.3 million in these fees alone, according to an immigration lawyer cited by Bloomberg.
Why does this matter so much to Indians?India’s dominant share of the H-1B programme means Indian professionals could be particularly affected by any major change in the visa’s cost or availability.
For decades, the H-1B has provided Indian engineers, software professionals, consultants, financial specialists and other highly skilled workers with a pathway into the US labour market.
The impact could also extend to Indian IT services companies, although another policy change may be of more immediate concern to some of these firms.
From September 9, qualifying large employers will face a $4,000 surcharge on H-1B extensions and a $4,500 surcharge on L-1 extensions. Previously, these charges generally applied to initial applications or job changes rather than visa renewals.
For companies that transfer thousands of employees to the US on multi-year assignments, these recurring surcharges could substantially increase the overall cost of maintaining their workforce.
What about Indian students in America?This could be one of the proposal’s most significant consequences for Indian students in the US.Many Indian students enter the country on F-1 visas, complete their degrees and then work temporarily under Optional Practical Training (OPT). They may eventually rely on an employer to sponsor them for an H-1B visa.
Under the proposed changes, an employer seeking to make that transition for a cap-subject worker could face the $103,265 fee.
That could make companies more selective about which employees they are willing to sponsor, potentially putting fresh graduates at a disadvantage. For employers, the cost of sponsorship could be difficult to justify for entry-level candidates whose experience and salaries may not warrant such a substantial additional expense.
There is another layer of uncertainty. The Trump administration is separately considering changes that could affect the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme, although no $100,000 OPT fee has been formally adopted. The Department of Homeland Security has also stressed that proposed policies should not be treated as final until they are officially announced.
The uncertainty comes as applications from India to US undergraduate institutions have already declined. Common App data cited by showed applications from India falling 15 per cent for the 2026–27 admissions cycle.Would every H-1B employer pay the new fee?
No.
The proposal targets cap-subject H-1B petitions, rather than every H-1B application.
Universities, certain non-profit organisations and qualifying hospitals that are exempt from the H-1B cap would not be subject to the proposed charge. These employers can already sponsor eligible H-1B workers outside the annual 85,000-visa lottery.
That distinction could become increasingly important for foreign professionals considering their career options in the US.
Why $103,265?The administration has described the proposed fee as a cost-recovery measure.
The Department of Homeland Security says the revenue would help cover the costs of administering the US legal immigration system across several federal agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Labor, State and Justice.
The department estimates that the proposed fee could generate around $8.8 billion a year.
Critics, however, have questioned whether a charge of more than $100,000 can reasonably be described as a measure aimed solely at recovering administrative costs.Didn’t Trump try something similar before?
Yes.
The Trump administration previously attempted to introduce a $100,000 H-1B fee through a presidential proclamation issued in September 2025.
A federal judge in Boston struck down the earlier measure in June, ruling that the $100,000 charge effectively amounted to a tax and that imposing such a measure required congressional authority.
The administration is now pursuing a different legal route. Rather than relying on a presidential proclamation, the Department of Homeland Security is proposing the fee through a regulation and characterising the $103,265 charge as cost recovery.
Could this proposal also end up in court?Almost certainly, if it becomes final.One of the likely legal challenges would question whether DHS has the authority to impose a fee of this magnitude without explicit approval from Congress.
Critics are also likely to highlight DHS’s acknowledgement that the fee could indirectly discourage companies from hiring H-1B workers instead of qualified American candidates. Opponents could argue that this suggests the measure is designed not only to recover administrative costs but also to influence employers’ hiring decisions.
What happens next?Nothing changes immediately for applicants because the $103,265 fee remains a proposal.
The public has 30 days from the August 24 publication date to submit comments. DHS will then review the feedback before deciding whether to issue a final regulation, modify the proposal or abandon it.
If a final rule is issued, it could face legal challenges that may ultimately determine whether the measure survives.For now, the $103,265 figure is only a proposal. But if it survives the regulatory and legal battles ahead, the cost of hiring foreign talent in the US could look dramatically different.
