The Donald Trump administration has proposed a sweeping change to the H-1B visa programme that would impose a $103,265 fee on certain new petitions, a move that could have significant consequences for Indian professionals and American companies that rely on overseas skilled workers. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed the new fee through a formal regulation, moving to establish the six-figure charge as a permanent part of the H-1B system. The proposal was placed for public inspection in the Federal Register on Monday and is scheduled for formal publication on Tuesday.
The proposed rule will be subject to a 30-day public comment period before the administration can proceed towards finalising it. If implemented, the charge would be payable in addition to existing H-1B filing fees. The measure would apply to petitions subject to the annual H-1B cap, including those falling within the regular 65,000-visa allocation and the additional 20,000 slots available to applicants with advanced degrees from US institutions.
Sharp increase in hiring costs
The proposal could dramatically increase the cost for employers seeking to recruit foreign professionals through the H-1B programme. Traditional H-1B filing expenses are only a fraction of the proposed $103,265 charge, although the total cost currently varies depending on the employer and petition.
DHS has calculated the new fee by allocating about $8.78 billion in annual costs associated with administering the country's legal immigration system across an estimated 85,000 annual cap-subject H-1B petitions.
On that basis, the department arrived at a proposed charge of $103,265 for each qualifying petition. If all available H-1B cap numbers are used, the government estimates the measure could generate around $8.8 billion annually.
The revenue would support immigration-related operations across several federal agencies, including US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, the Department of State and the Department of Labor.
The proposal would not apply to cap-exempt H-1B petitions, a category that includes many applications from universities, affiliated non-profit organisations, non-profit research institutions and government research organisations.
Indian workers could face major impact
The implications could be particularly significant for India because Indian nationals have long constituted the largest group of H-1B beneficiaries. The programme is widely used by technology companies, consulting firms and other American employers recruiting engineers, software professionals, researchers and specialists.
Although the fee would formally be paid by employers rather than workers, the sharp increase in recruitment costs could influence companies' hiring decisions. Businesses could become more selective about sponsoring foreign professionals, particularly for entry-level or moderately paid positions.
Smaller companies and start-ups may face greater pressure because absorbing a six-figure immigration charge for a single employee could prove considerably more difficult than for large technology or financial corporations.
The impact could therefore extend beyond applicants themselves, potentially reshaping how US businesses recruit international talent and how foreign students plan their careers after graduating from American universities.
Earlier $100,000 measure faced court battle
The proposed regulation follows the Trump administration's earlier attempt to impose a $100,000 payment on certain new H-1B petitions through a presidential proclamation in September 2025.
That measure became the subject of extensive litigation, with business groups, unions and several states challenging the administration's authority to impose such a large payment without congressional approval.
The new DHS proposal seeks to establish the fee through the federal regulatory process rather than relying solely on the presidential proclamation. It therefore represents a separate attempt to place the six-figure payment on a more permanent regulatory footing.
The administration has argued that tighter H-1B rules are necessary to protect American workers and prevent employers from using the programme to replace domestic employees with cheaper foreign labour. Critics counter that the visa programme provides US companies with access to specialised talent that may be difficult to find domestically.
H-1B system faces broader overhaul
The fee proposal comes amid wider changes to America's skilled immigration framework. The Trump administration has already tightened scrutiny of employment-based immigration and introduced changes affecting the way H-1B visas are allocated.
For Indian professionals, the latest proposal adds another layer of uncertainty to what has historically been one of the most important routes to employment in the United States.
The regulation is not yet final, and its eventual shape could change following the public comment process. But if the $103,265 fee survives regulatory and potential legal challenges, it would fundamentally alter the economics of H-1B recruitment, forcing employers to weigh the value of hiring an overseas professional against an unprecedented six-figure immigration cost.