Trump proposes NEW eye-popping fee for H-1B visas for foreign workers amid immigration crackdown

The Trump administration plans to charge US employers $103,265 in new fees to hire highly skilled foreign workers via the H-1B visa program – an eye-popping increase that comes amid the administration’s broader hard-line immigration crackdown.

The six-figure hike, proposed Monday by the Department of Homeland Security, would force employers to shoulder the extra $103,000 in costs for each H-1B recipient, in addition to other filing fees currently in place. 

It would not apply to cap-exempt programs, such as most university positions, or to individuals already living in the US under the program.

If finalized, however, the proposed changes could drastically reshape the future of a program long relied on by US employers to attract and retain highly skilled foreign workers. That includes specialized industries such as research, engineering, technology, and areas where there has been a dearth of qualified US applicants.

Its funding would also go far beyond the needs of USCIS, and would finance the broader immigration system writ large. 

‘The proposed H‑1B fee is intended to recover the costs incurred across the federal government to adjudicate, vet, and support lawful immigration programs that otherwise must be funded by taxpayers,’ US Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson, Zach Kahler, said in a statement announcing the proposed rule. 

DHS estimates the proposed change to the H-1B program would generate a whopping $8.78 billion annually, based on a projected 85,000 H-1B visa petitions each year. 

But the additional revenue would far exceed any need-based gap that US Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, is slated to incur in the processing of visa applicants.

While USCIS would receive slightly more than $3 billion from the revenue pool during that time, the vast majority of the increase would be funneled across various federal immigration enforcement agencies – many of which have little, if any, overlap with the H-1B visa program.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), already funded at a record high, would see an additional $1 billion in profit during the same 10-year period for immigration probes and related support, while Customs and Border Protection (CBP) would see an extra $76.2 million for inspection, enforcement, and technology efforts to monitor various points of entry at the US border. 

It would also allocate more than $1 billion to immigration courts for the hiring of some 8,400 additional immigration judges and other court personnel, and to secure and operate the facilities. 

The newly proposed rule comes amid the Trump administration’s broader bid to overhaul the H-1B visa system. Trump last year signed an executive order that sought to add an additional $100,000 in fees for H-1B visas, though the effort was struck down by a judge in federal court shortly after.

The administration said Monday that the newly proposed rule relies on different legal authorities than the 2025 executive order – though it is still likely to face its own headwinds in court.