August 24, 2026
US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday moved to impose a more than $100,000 fee on employers hiring foreign workers through a highly-skilled visa program, after facing a legal setback in an earlier effort.
The $103,265 fee for H-1B visas would serve as a “revenue mechanism” to recoup the costs of administering the lawful immigration system, the Department of Homeland Security said in its new proposed rule.
The Trump administration has argued the visa program has been exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers — and in September 2025 issued a presidential proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee to combat what it called “systemic abuse.”
But a federal judge in June blocked that order, siding with 20 Democratic-led states in a lawsuit that contended the fee constituted an unlawful tax that bypassed Congressional authority.
