White House proposes $200K visa fee
H-1B program allows hiring of foreign workers
By: Bart Jansen
USA Today
WASHINGTON - Turns out more is less when overhauling visa fees for foreign college graduates.
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The Trump administration purposed doubling the fees to more than $200,000 for H-1B Visa applicants in specialty applications from abroad slowed to a trickle in the months after President Donald Trump applied a $100,000 fee to them a year ago.
..... A federal judge blocked the fee in June [2026] as "unlawful." The Justice department has appealed.
..... The initial higher fee negated $8.5 million from 85 applicants from abroad during he first five months before the fee was blocked in court, according to U.S. citizenship and Immigration Services. the agency collected $28 million less during tat period because the number of applicants dropped 87%.
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"This is just a way to kill the H-1B program," Shev Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said about the combined fess. "This is just one of the many nails in the coffin of legal immigration in this country."
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The H-1B program, which distributes 85,000 new visas per year under a cap, remained popular enough after Trump's initial fee that the work permits are distribute by lottery. Tech companies, health care organizations and universities continue to hire foreign workers who are already in the United States at the previous fees of $2,000 to $5,000. Universities and nonprofit research centers are excluded from the cap.
..... The Department of Homeland Security proposed August 24 [2026] to change $103,265 for each of the 85,000 new applicants each year. If Trump's initial fee is eventually upheld in court, the results would mean an employer would have to pay $203,265 for each applicant from abroad.
..... Critics say the fees will devastate the H-1B program and squelch innovation from foreign workers. But the administration argued Trump's initial fee didn't aim to raise money but to regulate immigration.
..... Tech companies historically have been the largest suers of H-1B visas. Amazon toped the list through June 30 [2026] with 9,337 workers approved through the program, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Apple had 3,879, Google had 3,180 and Meta had 2,563.
..... The visas last for u to six years but workers can remain longer if sponsored for permanent residency, a precess that can take years. Immigration groups such as FWD.us estimate there are 730,000 visa holders and an additional 550,000 dependents.
..... Universities and health care organizations also consider the visas crucial. Educational institutions participating in the program include Stanford University with 284 H-1B workers, the Mayo Clinic with 276 and Washington University in St. Louis with 219.
..... Veena Dubal, general counsel for the Americna Association of University Professors, said colleges and universities employ about 40,600 faculty members onH-1B visas. Higher education positions don't fall under the cap but gradates seeking jobs with advanced degrees do.
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"Making the bridge from U.S. universes into the broader research economy available only to the wealthiest employers will make the United States less attractive as a place to study and build a career," Dubal said.
..... Advocates for the visas contend a projected shortage of 86,000 doctors in the next decade could be blunted with H-1B visas, after 23,000 foreign-trained doctors used them from 2001 to 2024.
..... Trump upset tech companies when he ordered the $100,00 fee on applicants still overseas in September 2025. then he upset his supporters after defending the program in November 2025, saying "you do also have to bring in talent." Some of his supporters contend the program should be abolished to reduce the completion for U.S. jobs.
..... The proposal for a $103,265 fee set off a firestorm o from than 5,000 comments in the first week. The Department of Homeland Security is collecting public comment about the proposal through September 24. [2026]
..... Trump's $100,000 fee remains at the heart of several pending lawsuits.
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U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Massachusetts overturned Trump's 4100,00 fee in June [2026] as "unlawful." Sorokin ruled that the proclamation "does not provide any explanation for imposing a tax on employers" and that it was "arbitrary and capricious."
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The 1st U.S. circuit court of Appeals refused to block the judge's ruling in July [2026] while the government appeals so the higher visa fee remains uncollected now.
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Justice Department lawyers contend in their appeal that the fee wasn't intend to raise money, but to "regulate immigration." They said the fee is an immigration policy set by the executive branch, rather than a tax imposed by Congress as Sorokin found.
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While the appeal is percolating, the Department of Homeland Security proposed the $103,265 fee "to generate dedicated revenue to support the costs of administering the lawful immigration system."
..... The higher fee is projected to generate $8.8 billion in revenue over a decade. The proposal dir4ects $3 billion to U.S. citizenship and Immigration Services, $1 billion for vetting applications to Immigration and customs Enforcement, $76 million for traveler services to Customs and Border Protection and 43 billion for the court system called the executive Office for Immigration Review,. the Labor Department get $1.2billin and the State Department $484 million.
..... The department's funding projection was based on a study by the national Bureau of Economic Research. The study estimated about half of employers in recent years would have hired a worker under the H-1B program even with an additional $100,00 fee because the wages for such workers are lower than for U.S. workers.
..... Neil Bradley, chief policy officer at the U. S. chamber of Commerce, which is fighting Trump's higher fee in federal court, said the additional fee "will make it cost-prohibitive for even more U.S. start-ups and small and mid-size businesses who rely on H1Bs - to utilize the program."