The Trump Administration's $100,000 H-1B Fee: What Employers Need To Know

Key Points

• The new $100,000 H-1B fee took effect on Sept. 21, 2025: President Trump's proclamation imposes a $100,000 fee on an H-1B petition for workers currently outside the U.S., with potential national interest exceptions. Subsequent guidance from various sources seems to expand the applicability of the fee to all H-1B petitions filed after the proclamation's effective date.
• Current H-1B visa holders are unaffected: The fee does not apply to existing visa holders, renewals, or 2025 lottery participants. Current holders retain normal travel and re-entry rights.
• Implementation uncertainty persists: Despite White House clarifications, guidance conflicts with the proclamation's language, creating uncertainty about its precise application.

President Donald J. Trump issued a proclamation last week, "Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers," that aims to significantly limit the H-1B professional worker program by imposing a $100,000 fee on certain applicants.

The proclamation, issued on Sept. 19, 2025, indicates that the new fee was created on the premise that the H-1B program undermines U.S. economic and national security interests, citing alleged abuses in the critical fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). It indicates the fee is directed at those seeking to "enter" the U.S. in H-1B status based on an H-1B petition received by USCIS after the effective date. The proclamation took effect at 12:01 a.m. US EST on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. Absent an extension, it will expire in 12 months.

Applicability

Section 1(a) of the proclamation set a baseline, applying the entry restrictions to H-1B petitions filed to facilitate the "entry into the United States" of H-1B workers, "...except for those...whose petitions are accompanied or supplemented by a payment of $100,000 — subject to the exceptions set forth in subsection (c)..."

Section 1(b) explains that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will "restrict decisions" on H-1B petitions filed without the $100,000 fee for those "who are currently outside the United States..." Section 2 of the proclamation, "Compliance," also refers to the fee applying to those whose petitions are received by USCIS after the effective date and who are outside of the U.S.

Potential national interest exceptions

Section 1(c) allows for exceptions to the fee for "any individual alien, all aliens working for a company, or all aliens working in an industry, if the Secretary of Homeland Security determines...that the hiring of such aliens to be employed as H-1B specialty occupation workers is in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States." Details on how this determination would be made were not provided.

Separate from the restrictions on entry/$100,000 fee, the proclamation directs the Secretary of Labor to initiate "rulemaking to revise the prevailing wage levels to levels consistent with the policy goals of [the] proclamation..." and directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to initiate "rulemaking to prioritize the admission as nonimmigrants of high-skilled and high-paid aliens." In practice, it is likely that prevailing wages in affected positions will increase.

Uncertainty about implementation

After the proclamation was issued, H-1B FAQs, agency memos, a fact sheet, a tweet from the White House Press Secretary, and a Rapid Response were issued to try to offer clarity after widespread confusion.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a clarification on X stating that the $100,000 is a one-time fee applying "only to the petition" rather than an annual $100,000 fee. She also said that "Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter. H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would; whatever ability they have to do that is not impacted by [Friday's] proclamation. Finally, Leavitt explained that the proclamation "applies only to new visas, not renewals, and not current visa holders. It will first apply in the next upcoming lottery cycle."

The White House Rapid Response message included the following three points:

• The proclamation does not apply to anyone who has a current visa.
• The proclamation only applies to future applicants in the February lottery who are currently outside the U.S. It does not apply to anyone who participated in the 2025 lottery.
• The proclamation does not impact the ability of any current visa holder to travel to/from the U.S.

Now what?

What can we make of the clarifications issued by the administration? While all of this is somewhat helpful, unfortunately not all parts of the guidance are consistent with the language of the proclamation. Questions remain as to whom the new fee applies at this time. Hopefully further official clarifications will be forthcoming.

The new fee is also expected to face legal challenges. In light of the uncertainty, employers should stay alert for additional details on implementation of the new fee and factor it in, as a contingency, to future staffing decisions.

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