One View of the Proposed $100K H-1B Fee
Guest blogger: David Simmons, University of San Francisco law student:
Before diving into the new proposed H-1B fee requirements, it is important to look generally at what most nonimmigrant visa fees carry. As of today, under the Travel State Government website, nonimmigrant visa application processing fees for non-petitioning applications (non-refundable) are 185 U.S. dollars (includes visa categories such as: B, C-1, D, F, I, J, M, TN/TD, S, T, U). Moreover, the petition-based nonimmigrant visas cost 205 U.S. dollars (includes visa categories such as: H,L,O,P,Q,R).[1] Here, I will be focusing specifically on H-1B visas. H-1B visas are visas for applicants that are working in a speciality occupation. For H-1B’s visa applicants they must have at least a Bachelor's degree, or equivalent experience in the speciality occupation.[2] This can include fashion models, Physicians, and DOD project participants.
Moreover, to sponsor a worker, an employer must submit a form (called a Labor Condition Application) promising to pay a fair wage, not hurt working conditions for U.S. workers, and not replace U.S. workers with foreign ones. [3] They also have to show they tried to hire Americans first. There’s a yearly limit of 65,000 H-1B visas, which many employers say is too low. Others argue companies use the program to avoid paying higher wages to U.S. workers. [4] Many H-1B workers also apply for green cards, and U.S. law allows them to do both without it affecting their visa. Under President Trump, getting an H-1B became harder due to stricter rules and more denials. Some of these changes were blocked in court or reversed by the Biden administration, which is now reviewing how wages for H-1B jobs are calculated.
With this deeper understanding of the H-1B nonimmigrant visas, I will turn to the announcement that was given a couple of weeks ago by the Oval Office. On September 22, 2025, Trump had stated that his administration would begin charging $100,000 for the much debated H-1B visa category.[5] Specifically, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the fee would be a yearly fee and that Big Tech was on board—these fees would take effect by the end of that weekend when the announcement had occurred. In addition, this $100,000 fee is not an annual fee, but instead a one-time fee that applies only to the petition. Those who already hold H-1B Visas and arent in the country currently, would not be charged the $100,000 to re-enter the U.S.[6] Importantly, over the past few decades around 400,000 H-1B visas have been approved in 2024 and most of these have been seen from large tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.[7] However, this H-1B process has caused more difficulties in changing jobs, as applicants have their immigration status tied directly to their employer.
Congruently, India and the H-1B visa holders who have worked here in the U.S. come at the crux of this issue. In the article, it discusses Nithin Hassan, a native to India who had settled here in the U.S. for the last 20 years, but after Trump's issued order, decided to take the chance to go back home to his community of Bengaluru, known as India’s Silicon Valley. Mr. Hasssan’s immigration status with his H-1B visa did not just hamper his ability to pivot careers, but limited his freedom while being in the U.S. since it tied to his career at Meta.
Mr. Hassan is not the only H-1B visa holder who has this problem. The United States thrives itself as a country built off of immigrants and freedom, but even in this case, Mr. Hassan could not appreciate the fruits of his labor. To work at a company such as Meta, and still have such limited freedom, the opportunity and chance to return home outweighed the financial gain. At the end of the day, how much is your freedom worth? At what cost are you willing to pay the price of your happiness? Mr. Hassan had done his 20 year stint here in the U.S., but with immigration issues arising day in and day out under the current regime, Mr. Hassan had decided to retire from the American Dream. H-1B visas holders are given great opportunities and chances to have that notoriety of working and living in the United States. This label is a great advertisement for other individuals who want to take the chance and give back to their own countries. It is quite a shame that the current administration is imposing such a $100, 000 fee. Yes— big tech companies can afford this, but this fee will ruin small businesses who also have to abide by fees such as this. Big business will continue to cripple small companies and diminish any hope allowing people to compete.
This requirement to pay for H-1B visas applicants completely disrupts—not only the applications— but the applicants who need this visas in order to even get the notoriety of working in the U.S. in order for them to go back to their home to give back the way Mr. Hassan can. The skills, tools, resume building opportunities that Mr. Hassan had incurred while being in the U.S. will be incredibly beneficial to the start up that he is taking the chance on within his own country. It is incredibly distasteful that the current state of affairs will make this path only harder. The future of applicants wanting to build the knowledge and skills, as Mr. Hassan, will now offer will become limited, as the hiring process will more than likely be more competitive. Companies, big and small will have to determine, at a more strenuous level, which applicants are the best fit for them to spend the $100,000 application fee on for the H-1B. As Mr. Sanjaya Baru discussed—former media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India— the U.S. needs to create a model of elevating the scale of research and development for applicants of H-1B visas so that the education can be given back to the applicants home.[8] This idea would benefit both the U.S. and the home country, only increasing the success of the world in its entirety.
It will be interesting to see how this will impact the field of H-1B visas in the next few years.
[1]https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/fees/fees-visa-services.html
[2] 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)
[3] INA §212(n)
[4] INA § 214(g)(1)(A); 8 U.S.C. § 1184(g)(1)(A)
[5] https://www.newsweek.com/h1b-visa-fees-before-after-restrictions-100k-trump-2133795
[6] https://www.newsweek.com/h1b-visa-fees-before-after-restrictions-100k-trump-2133795
[7] https://www.newsweek.com/h1b-visa-immigrants-tech-jobs-impact-college-grads-2106392
