{
  "id": 3156585,
  "title": "US proposes $103,265 fee for H-1B visas",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/25/us-proposes-103-265-fee-for-h-1b-visas",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-25T00:57:19.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Gulf News",
    "slug": "gulf-news",
    "url": "https://gulfnews.com/world/americas/us-proposes-103265-fee-for-h-1b-visas-1.500651197"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Trump administration has proposed a substantial $103,265 fee for employers filing cap-subject H-1B visa petitions, a move that could significantly increase the cost of hiring skilled foreign workers, including those from India. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that this fee would apply to all cap-subject petitions, including those for workers eligible under the advanced degree exemption. Employers would pay this fee when submitting the petition, in addition to all other relevant fees or payments. This proposal is currently under review and is expected to be published in the Federal Register, initiating a 30-day period for public comments.\n\nDHS estimates that the proposed fee could generate approximately $8.8 billion annually, based on an anticipated 85,000 cap-subject petitions annually. According to Zach Kahler, a spokesperson for US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the fee aims to recover the costs associated with operating the legal immigration system, including immigration benefit adjudications, fraud detection, national security screening, modernization of government systems, and record collection.\n\nThe additional revenue would support various immigration-related activities undertaken by several agencies, such as the USCIS, Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Justice Department's immigration courts, the State Department, and the Department of Labor. Notably, the fee would not apply to cap-exempt petitions filed by specific non-profit research organizations, government research bodies, and institutions of higher education.\n\nThe annual H-1B visa allocation currently stands at 65,000 visas, with an additional 20,000 visas available to foreign nationals who have earned a master's degree or higher qualification from a U.S. institution. The proposed fee would be imposed uniformly, regardless of the size or non-profit status of the employer. DHS estimated that 14,541 out of the 28,649 organizations filing cap-subject petitions in fiscal 2025 were small entities, and this regulation could significantly impact 11,051 of these small entities, accounting for 76% of the small organizations covered by their analysis.\n\nCritics, including Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us, have strongly opposed the fee, describing it as a \"massive tax on American businesses\" and part of a broader strategy to weaken legal immigration. They argue that such policies hinder the U.S.'s ability to attract top talent and maintain economic leadership, potentially leading to businesses moving overseas, thereby negatively impacting workers. Schulte also questioned the legal authority of the government to impose a fee that exceeds the direct cost of processing an individual H-1B petition, asserting that this policy likely violates the law.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}