$103,265 H-1B fee? Trump administration targets US firms hiring highly skilled foreign workers

Washington: The administration of US President Donald Trump has proposed a new fee of $103,265 for employers hiring foreign workers through the H-1B visa programme, reviving an effort to make companies pay significantly more for access to the highly skilled worker scheme.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the proposed fee would serve as a "revenue mechanism" to recover the costs of administering the country's lawful immigration system.

The move comes after the administration suffered a legal setback over an earlier attempt to impose a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas.

New fee follows legal challenge

The Trump administration has repeatedly argued that the H-1B programme is being used to replace American workers rather than supplement the domestic workforce.

In September 2025, Trump issued a presidential proclamation introducing a $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications, describing it as a measure to address what his administration called "systemic abuse" of the programme.

A federal judge blocked the order in June after 20 Democratic-led states challenged it, arguing that the fee amounted to an unlawful tax that could not be imposed without congressional approval.

However, another federal judge upheld the measure in December 2025, ruling that the president had "broad statutory authority" to respond to what he considered an economic and national security problem. That ruling is currently being appealed.

The latest proposal takes a different approach, with the administration placing greater emphasis on the cost of running the immigration system.

Fee could come on top of existing charges

Under the proposed rule, the new payment would help cover the costs incurred by agencies including:

• US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

• Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

However, the DHS also acknowledged that the fee could have another effect: discouraging employers from choosing foreign workers over qualified American candidates.

The department said US employers would be "less likely to hire an H-1B worker over a qualified and highly-skilled American" if they had to pay the additional $103,265 fee.

Importantly, the proposed payment would be in addition to other applicable fees and charges.

That means employers could potentially face both the proposed $103,265 fee and the earlier $100,000 presidential fee if the original measure survives its ongoing legal challenge.

What is the H-1B visa programme?

Congress created the H-1B visa programme in 1990 to allow US employers to hire foreign workers in specialised occupations requiring advanced skills and qualifications.

The US currently issues 85,000 H-1B visas each year under the regular annual cap.

The programme is widely used by technology companies and employers in sectors that rely on highly skilled workers.

Prominent former H-1B visa holders include SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Critics warn of impact on key sectors

Critics of the proposed fee argue that making H-1B hiring prohibitively expensive could worsen existing shortages of skilled workers in sectors such as medicine, engineering and science.