The Department of Homeland Security has proposed a new surcharge of 103,265 dollars on H-1B visa petitions, on top of the fees employers already pay, in what amounts to a second attempt at a policy a federal judge blocked in June 2026 when the administration tried to impose a similar 100,000 dollar charge. If it survives the mandatory 30 day public comment period, the agency projects the fee would cost employers 74.9 billion dollars over the next decade.
DHS arrived at the figure by dividing the roughly 8.8 billion dollars it says the federal government spends each year running immigration programs by the 85,000 H-1B visas issued annually. A department spokesperson described the fee as a way to recover the government's own costs of vetting and supporting the program, rather than as a deterrent aimed at any particular type of employer.
In practice, DHS's own analysis suggests the burden will land unevenly. The agency estimates that more than 11,000 small businesses, about 76 percent of the small entities it studied, would face significant economic hardship under the new fee. Large technology companies such as Amazon and Microsoft have the option of opening offices abroad or hiring talent outside the United States to work around the added cost. Startups generally do not have that flexibility, and researchers who study the visa program say companies that lose access to H-1B hires tend to patent less, and are less likely to be acquired or go public.
Immigration lawyers have also pointed out a tension in the policy's own logic. Attorney Elizabeth Ricci has noted that if the fee is steep enough to discourage employers from filing H-1B petitions in the first place, the government will collect far less revenue than its own projections assume, undercutting the cost recovery rationale DHS has offered for the charge.