Trump administration seeks to formalise H-1B fee of more than $100,000

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has proposed a rule to formalise a controversial fee for H-1B work visas to the US and charge $103,265 for these visa applications going forward.

The proposed fee for highly skilled foreign workers was published in the US Federal Register on Monday, and will now be subject to a 30-day public comment period, after which it could be finalised and put into practice by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It would dramatically increase the cost of visas that are in high use in recruiting workers in the tech, education and research sectors.

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Last year, Trump temporarily imposed a fee of $100,000 for the visa programme, which was then blocked by court rulings. The temporary proclamation is due to expire in September, and the new DHS proposal would replace it and make the fee permanent.

In June, a federal judge ruled the fee was illegal and barred the Trump administration from collecting it. A Boston-based appeals court is reviewing that decision, while a different court considers whether a judge in Washington, DC properly rejected a challenge to the fee by a major business group.

The H-1B programme allows US employers to hire foreign workers with training in specialty fields and offers 65,000 visas annually, with another 20,000 for workers with advanced degrees, approved for three to six years.

The order Trump issued last year sharply increased the cost of obtaining some H-1B visas, which had typically come with about $2,000 to $5,000 in fees, depending on various factors.

The increase in fees has discouraged H-1B visa requests, according to court filings. As of February 15, US Citizenship and Immigration Services had received from 70 employers just 85 payments of the $100,000 fee, the administration said in a March filing.

Debate over visa programme

Trump, a Republican, and other critics of the H-1B programme say it is abused by many companies who replace US workers with cheaper foreign labour.

But business groups and many individual companies have said the visa programme is needed to address a lack of qualified American workers ⁠for some jobs and to allow US businesses to recruit top talent.

In imposing the fee, Trump invoked the president’s power under federal immigration law to restrict the entry of certain foreign nationals who would be detrimental to US interests.

The fee is being challenged by the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest US business lobbying group, Democratic-led states, and a coalition ⁠of unions and employers. Those lawsuits could be amended to challenge the rule proposed this week once it is finalised.

Legal challenges mount

The lawsuits claim that Trump’s power to restrict entry does not allow him to override the law ⁠that created the H-1B visa programme. The states and groups that sued also say that DHS cannot impose fees, taxes or other means to generate revenue for the US without permission from Congress.

The Trump administration has maintained that the fee is not a traditional tax and that courts have little power to question the president’s authority to restrict entry into the country.

Amid Trump’s broader immigration crackdown, employers last year registered for about 344,000 H-1B visas, down ‌more than 25 percent from 2024, and fewer than half of the 794,000 visas sought in 2023, according to data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services.