United States · H-1B fee proposal
$103,265 H-1B fee proposal: who would pay and who would not
Nothing is payable yet. DHS wants to add $103,265 to every cap-subject H-1B petition. See which filings are covered, which are not, and what must happen first.
Published .
Reported and checked by the QueueCheck news desk. Last checked August 25, 2026. How we verify information
Nobody owes this fee today
Nobody owes this $103,265 fee now. DHS has proposed it for future cap-subject H-1B petitions, on top of every other applicable filing charge, but a proposal cannot collect money by itself. The department must accept public comments, decide whether to change or abandon the plan, publish a final rule and give that rule an effective date before an employer could be required to pay it.
Which employers and petitions are in the proposal
Employers planning to sponsor a worker through a future H-1B cap season, selected workers and their families, international students considering the H-1B route, universities, research organizations, nonprofits and small businesses trying to work out whether a particular petition would fall inside the proposal.
The $103,265 charge DHS wants to add
- USCIS announced the proposal on August 24, 2026. The Federal Register filed the 67-page document for public inspection at 8:45 am Eastern that morning and scheduled it for publication on August 25.
- The proposed fee is $103,265 for each cap-subject H-1B petition, including a petition under the 20,000-place U.S. advanced-degree allocation. It would be charged when the employer files the petition, not when someone enters the registration pool.
- The fee would be additional. It would not replace the registration fee, Form I-129 fee, asylum program fee, fraud fee, premium processing fee or any other charge that applies to the filing.
- The public-inspection document gives commenters 30 days from Federal Register publication. It does not make the fee effective at the end of that window, and it does not set a collection date.
- DHS could revise the amount, coverage or timing after comments. Until a final rule says otherwise, there is no standalone $103,265 H-1B cap-petition fee to pay.
What the proposed rule actually says
The ordinary H-1B allocation is 65,000, with another 20,000 places for qualifying beneficiaries who earned a master's degree or higher from a U.S. institution. The proposal would cover petitions in both groups.
DHS starts with $8,777,488,035 in costs it wants the fee to recover and divides that figure by 85,000 projected fee-paying petitions. The result is $103,264.57, which the department rounds to the nearest $5.
Multiplying the rounded $103,265 fee by 85,000 petitions produces projected annual revenue of $8,777,525,000, or about $8.8 billion.
A qualifying cap-exempt petition would not carry the proposed fee. The rule names higher-education employers and their related or affiliated nonprofits, nonprofit research organizations and government research organizations as common cap-exempt examples.
A petition for a worker who has already been counted against the cap generally remains outside the proposal when the worker changes employers or extends H-1B stay during the permitted period. A move from cap-exempt employment into a new cap-subject position is different and can require cap selection first.
The proposal is limited to cap-subject H-1B petitions. It does not add this fee to every H-1B filing, every Form I-129 filing or another temporary-worker classification.
The $103,265 proposal at a glance
Federal Register public-inspection document checked August 25, 2026
The proposal draws a sharp line between a new cap-subject petition and an H-1B filing that is already outside the annual cap.
Status now
Proposal only
No $103,265 payment is currently due under this rulemaking.
Proposed added fee
$103,265
Per cap-subject H-1B petition, on top of applicable fees.
Projected annual filings
85,000
DHS's estimate if the proposal is finalized as written.
Projected annual revenue
$8.78 billion
$8,777,525,000 using the rounded fee and projected volume.
| Filing | Current position | If finalized as proposed |
|---|---|---|
| Regular-cap petition | No standalone $103,265 fee | $103,265 added at petition filing |
| U.S. advanced-degree cap petition | No standalone $103,265 fee | $103,265 added at petition filing |
| Qualifying cap-exempt university or research petition | Outside this proposed fee | Remains outside this proposed fee |
| Previously counted worker changing employer or extending stay | Generally outside the annual cap | Outside the fee while the petition remains cap-exempt |
| Other Form I-129 classification | No $103,265 H-1B cap fee | Outside this proposal |
How DHS arrived at $103,265
- $8,777,488,035 divided by 85,000 is $103,264.57, rounded to $103,265.
- DHS projects 85,000 fee-paying petitions, down from the five-year average of 96,750 cap-subject receipts.
- The fee would be the same for a large company, small business or nonprofit when its petition is cap-subject.
The announcement and the proposed rule
- Federal Register proposed rule summary and proposed 8 CFR 106.2(a)(3)(xii)
- Federal Register fee calculation, footnote 5
- Federal Register Table 10, H-1B Fee Annual Revenue Projection
- Federal Register Table 13, H-1B cap-subject receipts for FY2021 through FY2025
What has not been decided
- The public comment window is 30 days after Federal Register publication.
- The proposal supplies no effective date and creates no payment obligation by itself.
- Cap status depends on the petition and beneficiary history, not only the employer's name or nonprofit status.
The first H-1B fee questions, answered
Do employers have to pay $103,265 now?
No. DHS has proposed the fee but has not finalized it. The proposal must go through public comments and final rulemaking, and any final rule would need an effective date before the fee could be collected.
Would an H-1B transfer or extension carry the new fee?
Generally not when the worker was already counted against the cap and the new petition remains cap-exempt. A worker moving from cap-exempt employment into a new cap-subject job is a different case and may first need cap selection.
Would nonprofits and universities be exempt?
The answer follows the petition. A qualifying cap-exempt filing by a university, affiliated nonprofit or research organization would stay outside the proposed fee. If a nonprofit or small employer files a cap-subject petition, DHS proposes charging the same $103,265.
Is this the same as the earlier $100,000 H-1B payment?
No. DHS says this is a separate proposed regulation based on different legal authority. The proposal also says a court vacated the guidance for the proclamation payment on June 8, 2026 and that the government's appeal was still pending when DHS filed this rule.
When could the new H-1B fee start?
There is no start date to put on a calendar. The comment period must close, DHS must decide whether to issue a final rule, and that final rule would have to state when it takes effect. The comment deadline itself is not the start date.
What this would do to the next cap cycle
For a cap-subject filing, the proposed charge would add $103,265 to the employer's budget before the petition is adjudicated. Selection in the cap process would still not guarantee approval.
Employer size would not change the amount. DHS says the fee would apply uniformly to cap-subject petitioners, including small employers and nonprofits, even though many university and research employers file cap-exempt petitions that would stay outside it.
DHS estimates the rule would have a significant economic effect on 11,051 small entities that filed cap-subject petitions in fiscal year 2025. That is 76% of the small entities in its analysis.
The department expects fewer cap-subject receipts than the recent average. It uses 85,000 annual filings in its revenue estimate, compared with a five-year average of 96,750, because USCIS has historically selected extra registrations to allow for petitions that are denied, rejected or withdrawn.
The proposed regulation assigns the payment to the H-1B petitioner, which is normally the employer. The document says it is not a direct charge on the worker or the worker's family.
What employers and workers should do now
- Do not send or schedule a $103,265 payment because of this announcement. USCIS has not created a payment obligation under the proposal.
- Employers considering a future cap case should identify whether the filing would be cap-subject, cap-exempt or for a worker already counted against the cap. That classification matters more than the employer's tax status or size.
- Budget owners can model the proposed amount as a risk for a future cap filing, but should keep it separate from fees that are currently due and from legal or recruitment spending.
- Anyone submitting a public comment should use DHS Docket No. USCIS-2026-0298 on Regulations.gov and follow the filing instructions. The public-inspection document says comments are due 30 days after publication.
- Before making a sponsorship decision, check the final Federal Register record and current USCIS fee instructions. A headline about a proposal is not filing guidance.
Why DHS based the estimate on 85,000 petitions
This proposal is separate from the $100,000 payment tied to the September 2025 presidential proclamation. The proposed rule says a federal district court vacated the agency guidance implementing that payment on June 8, 2026, and that the government's appeal remained pending when the proposal was filed. DHS says the new fee relies on different legal authority.
The size of the number comes from a broad cost pool. DHS proposes using the revenue to recover immigration-system costs across USCIS, Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the immigration courts, the State Department and the Labor Department, not simply the cost of adjudicating one H-1B petition.
The five-year average of 96,750 cap-subject receipts is higher than the 85,000 statutory allocation because USCIS has historically selected more registrations than the available places. The agency does that to account for petitions that never become an approved cap number.
DHS says the final amount could move if related policy, cost and inflation assumptions change before a final rule. That is another reason not to treat $103,265 as a settled future price.
What this proposal cannot settle yet
- This page reports a rulemaking proposal and is not legal advice about a particular employer, worker or petition.
- At the time of QueueCheck's August 25 check, document 2026-17324 was still presented through the Federal Register public-inspection system with publication scheduled for August 25. The official deadline is 30 days after publication; this page does not guess the calendar date before the published record supplies it.
- DHS does not give the fee an effective date in the proposal. A comment deadline is not a start date, and publication of a proposed rule is not publication of a final rule.
- The final rule, if DHS issues one, may change the amount, scope, exemptions or implementation details. Current filing instructions control until then.
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Official citation: USCIS announcement and Federal Register filing checked
Published August 25, 2026. Original source: USCIS: DHS proposes additional H-1B fee.
- Also checked: Federal Register public inspection: Fee for Certain H-1B Petitions.
- Also checked: Regulations.gov: DHS Docket USCIS-2026-0298.